Photo by Jon Anderson
Representatives for ARC Realty participate in the Holiday in the Hills Parade in the Liberty Park neighborhood in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
The city’s annual Holiday in the Hills Parade will be in Liberty Park again this year, but it has a new route tied to the opening of a new city park.
Liberty Park Joint Venture has completed its Grand Lawn park in The Bray sector of Liberty Park, and the parade route will now end there, said Cinnamon McCulley, the assistant city manager who leads the Holiday in the Hills planning committee.
This year’s parade is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, with a backup rain date of Sunday, Dec. 14.
Participants will stage at The Church at Liberty Park, and the parade will proceed west on Liberty Parkway, go a little past the Publix grocery store, then turn around and proceed through The Bray Town Center before ending at the Grand Lawn park in front of the Livano and The Filmont apartment complexes.
The annual Party in the Park will take place in the Grand Lawn park immediately after the parade and include a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park, McCulley said.
“I think it’s going to be better, quite honestly, because it’s flatter right there,” she said. “We’re not going through a neighborhood anymore. There’ll be great viewing. There’s better parking. … We don’t want the residents in the neighborhood to have people parked in their yard. … We think it will be a much better location for it.”
There is ample parking in the areas around the Grand Lawn and some smaller lots in and around the town center, she said. But city officials don’t want to interfere with parking for people who live in the apartments or for the businesses in the town center.
More than a decade ago, the city’s Christmas parade was held on U.S. 31 but was moved to Liberty Park in 2011, McCulley said. Every year, some residents ask that it be brought back to U.S. 31, but she said that was problematic. “We have a lot of problems with shutting down a state highway.”
The Alabama Department of Transportation required one lane remain open, so the city would shut down half of the four-laned U.S. 31 for the parade and allow one lane of traffic to go each direction on the other side, she said.
“But with the sheer amount of traffic on 31 now, we don’t want to have a parade that is a danger to onlookers and visitors to our city,” McCulley said. “That’s why it moved out to Liberty Park.”
Planning for the parade typically begins in July but was delayed until October this year to see if the Grand Lawn was going to be completed in time, she said.
Groups began signing up in mid-October. The parade usually draws an array of businesses and organizations, including scouting groups, city officials, the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, Vestavia Belles, Vestavia Hills High School band, color guard, majorettes, dance teams, beauty pageant winners, classic cars, fire trucks, classic fire trucks and, of course, Santa Claus.
Last year’s parade included more than 30 floats and golf carts, numerous vintage cars and about 280 walkers in the parade, said Melanie Perry, the director of the New Merkel Senior Center, who helps coordinate it. People can apply to be in the parade through a form on the city’s website or by contacting Perry at 205-967-5977.
The parade usually lasts about 45 minutes, McCulley said. After the parade, the Party in the Park typically includes inflatables, games, some food vendors and opportunities for children to visit with Santa and take photos.
