This year will be our first Christmas in Chattanooga. We decided to throw ourselves into the holiday spirit by exploring how Chattanooga celebrates Christmas.
We started with the Starlight Parade downtown on the 8th. The number of smiling children both in the parade and watching it gave the whole experience the kind of magic one expects at Christmas time.
The Howard High School parade swayed and grooved their way down Market Street to the beat of an energetic drum corps. Most remarkable was the much younger drum major in the lead – he led the band with all of the confidence of an adult.
Young twirlers impressed the crowd by tossing lighted batons into the night sky. Even more impressively, they caught them without holding up the parade.
There were also gymnasts doing back flips in the street, young dancers gracefully posing on a float, young women twirling burning batons, and even a talented hula-hooper. While the vintage VWs, lawn mowers, trucks, ducks, and buses decked out in Christmas garb were crowd pleasers, the young men and women performing stole the show.
Up next: the Lighted Boat Parade. Poised on a launch ramp under the Market Street Bridge, the pillars of the bridge blocked my view of the boats until they appeared one by one, as if from behind a curtain.
While all of the boats were beautiful, one boat included a musical production complete with dancing Santa’s helpers, adding energy to the event.
All of this concluded with a spectacular fireworks display. As each rocket exploded into beautiful bursts of color, the crowd oohed and ahhed.
The following night, I decided my husband and I should check out Rock City’s amazing collection of Christmas lights. I was surprised by the large and diverse crowd waiting at the ticket booth. Hearing four different languages while waiting in line made my night.
I don’t know how many lights Rock City has, but they seemed infinite. My favorite part was a large section of woods hung with vertical sections of white lights, resembling glistening icicles.
The Chattanooga Zoo also offers a Christmas Lights event. They generously arranged to give me a preview of the decorations. They have the biggest, most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve seen in a long time. All was set and ready for crowds of children, including a visit with Santa himself.
I think we’re going to have a good Christmas.
Dianne Blankenbaker is a recent transplant to the Chattanooga area who came “temporarily” but is enjoying Chattanooga so much, she just might stay indefinitely.