The Town of Hurlock Christmas Parade Committee is * Paul Grahe * Linda Grahe * Paul Cooper * Sherry Sinclair * Bill Sinclair * Earl Murphy * Michelle Murphy *

HOT TOPICS	2009 WINNERS      are POSTED          Click here	BIG SURPRISE       for 2009             Click here	Endorsement            from           Mayor Bradley

Dec. 12, 2009 Well, this is the day. The weather is on our side today. It is a bit cool but the sky is blue and the sun is shining. The parade went very smooth, all things considered. The pace was better than previous years so we were finished sooner than in the past. Stay tuned right here for the winners list. We will have it posted very soon. I will also be sorting, croping and editing pictures over the coming weeks and posting them in the photos section. Check back often for updates. If you have any good pictures from the parade, please call or email, we would love to review them for the website. We hope everyone enjoyed the parade, it has been a labor of love putting it on. If you enjoyed the parade please consider making a donation to help keep this parade going year after year. You can contribute right here with a debit/credit card or a PayPal account. We would not be able to put on this parade without the generous donations from the citizens and businesses of the region. Thank you for any help you may be able to offer. Dec. 2, 2009 To all who have entered we thank you and look forward to seeing you in the parade. This year's line up can be found HERE . To all who did not enter the parade, we look forward to seeing you at the parade. We anticipate a good turnout and are praying for good weather on parade day. Every one have a Merry Christmas !! There is one major change for 2009 that we want to mention. Read more about this change [ HERE ] . For 2009, ALL applications will be ON LINE ONLY. There will be NO paper applications. Application deadline will be STRICTLY adhered to. Last minute entries cause too much stress and will NOT be allowed the deadline will be clearly posted on the application for 2009 the DEADLINE is midnight, Wednesday, Dec. 2nd. ALL entries MUST display a Christmas Theme. Must be dressed or decorated for Christmas. Afterall this IS a CHRISTMAS parade, However; Best use of Theme is one of our trophies so, going beyond simple Christmas decor and emphasizing the theme can earn you a trophy. So far our theme has been " Put CHRIST back in Christmas " This will most likley be a recurring theme but it could be changed in coming years and will be clearly posted if it is changed. You MUST come to this web site to apply, you cannot apply at the town office. Click APPLICATIONS in the menu on the left of the page to apply. We are re-vamping the application to reflect the judged catagories as well as a few other tweeks. The new version will be online soon.   I have finally posted some of the pictures. Go to the photos section to see them. We have been nailing together the details of our Christmas in July dance. Go HERE for details We already have applications for the 2009 parade which is awsome. We plan on doing everything we can to bring in more participation from school bands and fire companies this year. Come on everyone get those applications submitted early. Go HERE for the application We're making good progress on the Christmas in July Dance. It looks like it is going to be a great time, lots of food, live band and lots of door prizes. The band performing will be 'Divided Highway'. More details HERE

A little history... The Christmas Parade has a long history in the town of Hurlock.   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. 2006 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. 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. Any tax deductible contributions are always welcome and will certainly be put to good use!! Go to the Donors & Sponsors section on our Applications Page for more on contributing to our parade! Throughout the year the members of the parade committee met at our headquarters in Woodsedge 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.