Christmas parades and decorations have been a delight to witness

Several years ago I stopped by my office on Main Street in Corbin around 7 p.m. and noticed a handful of people standing on the sidewalk. I asked them what was going on. To my surprise they said they were waiting on the Christmas Parade. We had not been notified at this newspaper and I had not heard a word about a parade.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

Skip to this past Saturday night. The street was crowded with people and Corbin had one of its biggest Christmas parades I have ever witnessed. It was excellent.

Years ago when outdoor decorations were scarce our family would take a drive to see neighborhood Christmas decorations. They are plentiful now but still my sister wanted to drive around and look at the lights in the towns and neighborhoods.

So, on Friday night we started our journey to the Bill Woods Park, the decorations at the University of the Cumberlands and downtown Williamsburg. All were a joy to see.

Then as we headed down Main Street in Corbin the new decorations at the north and south end of the street are very pretty and have added a lot.

From there we headed to London. What I didn’t know was London was having its Christmas parade that night. Talking about a crowd, the street was packed with onlookers.

I am by no means qualified to judge the best decorated town in the state because I have seen just a few, but the city of London has outdone themselves with their decorations.

London is by far the best decorated town I have ever seen. Being blessed by having trees along the street, they are decorated with multi-colored lights.

That is just the beginning. London has an entire block that is full of brightly lit decorations. It is worth your drive to see their displays.

This is not a knock on other towns. Each area town has done a good job of decorating for the season. I’m sure it cost a pretty penny to do what London has done and to their credit it is beautiful.

Corbin has some of the best regular lighting on Main Street that you will find. But because they are so bright, it is a handicap to the Christmas decorations. At night you can barely see the lights wrapped around the light poles. The decorations show up better during the day and those bright red banners with the green garland look great.

Before the bright bulbs were installed the present lights worked fine, but now it is time to do some thinking about changing the Main Street decorations so they will be more visible at night.

It is worth your time to take a drive and see all the beautiful decorations. I’m glad my sister talked me into doing it.

Sunday afternoon our family enjoyed the 4th annual “Christmas at the Cumberlands” at the O. Wayne Rollins Center at the University of the Cumberlands. It was an enjoyable and excellent presentation. I highly recommend you mark your calendar for next year and attend this event.

Christmas is quickly approaching and there are still many events that you can attend. Williamsburg will be having its Christmas parade this Saturday at 6 p.m. and Jellico will have its on Sunday at 2 p.m., plus there are many church programs you can attend. Enjoy!