A little history...
The Christmas Parade has a long history in the town of Hurlock, Maryland. For many years its citizens and neighbors from the northern part of Dorchester County enjoyed a wonderful day of holiday festivities and fun. The yearly event was discontinued after 1990 when the coordinator, William "Bill" Wheatley, was seriously injured in an accident. In its day, the Town of Hurlock Christmas Parade was one of the largest in Maryland.
A New Beginning...
In 2006, some very energetic citizens from the town of Hurlock decided to get the parade going again. The children, the businesses, and the citizens in the town and surrounding communities deserved it. The parade committee got to work and the new edition of the parade started to grow. We were hoping for a few entries from the local schools, churches, organizations, and businesses. By the start of the 2006 Christmas Parade we had over 90 entries with more than 300 participants. The whole town and many of the surrounding communities showed up to enjoy the day of holiday cheer.
2007, Now behind us...
2007 was a very exciting and busy year for the members of the parade committee. [ more? ]
 We added some new volunteers, started this website, and even added another event for the town. During the year the committee worked to make the 2007 edition of the Town of Hurlock Christmas Parade better than the past.
We believe we accomplished that mission. During the summer we added a fund raiser event, The Christmas in July Dance. We decided to try a dance to raise money to pay for some of the expenses that come up when you put on a large parade.
(Some people claim we are the largest Christmas Parade in Maryland!!) We have had wonderful success recruiting funds from many local sponsors but the committee decided to try a dance to offer a fun event for the citizens who wanted to support the parade.
All in all over $1100 was raised for the benefit of the 2007 parade and believe me...we needed every penny of it!! Any tax deductible contributions are always welcome and will certainly be put to good use!!
Go to the section on our for more on contributing to our parade!
Throughout the year the members of the parade committee met at our headquarters in Woodsedge [ more? ]
at least once each month to work on the improved edition of the parade.
By the middle of November my truck naturally left my place of work and headed to the committee meeting house almost on its own! With the financial support of the town council we were able to recruit 10 performing bands for the 2007 parade. That change alone was huge!
We only had 2 bands in our 2006 parade. The Mayor and Council agreed to cover the traveling expenses of our performing bands which made a terrific difference. We also increased the number of entries in every category of the parade.
We went from a total of 92 entries from the 2006 parade to over 150 entries in the 2007 parade. We added many types of advertising for the 2007 parade including banners around town, a main banner on Main St., posters, flyers, radio, tv, and periodical ads, the famous
"Frosty, the Snowbug" ( Thanx Kim ), and lots of "good old word of mouth!" The 2007 parade was even broadcast live on WAAI, Delmarva's Favorite Country Station, 100.9, from Cambridge.
2008, We've already begun...
We plan to keep improving the parade, other events, and the hometown pride for the citizens of Hurlock for many years to come. [ more? ]
 We thank you for checking out our website and encourage you to join us for our next big event the Christmas in July Dance at the American Legion Post 243 on July 12, 2008. Please contact any committee member or call 410-507-8799 to get tickets for the dance and/or to purchase 50/50 raffle tickets.
Or you can go to buy our raffle tickets ONLINE with a credit card or PAY-PAL.
|