Throwback Thursday – A Trip Down Memory Lane: SOKY’s Christmas Parades

Celebrating the holiday season is a little bit different during a global pandemic. In this unusual year without Christmas parades, Throwback Thursday thought it would be fun to step back thru southern Kentucky’s Christmas parade history. People have a natural ability to bring life into a community, and the annual parades are the perfect snapshot of life at the time.

Bowling Green’s downtown Fountain Square and Main Street have been hosting holiday events and parades for over a century. The Kentucky Library & Museum Special Collections archives cover Christmas parades back to the early 1920s. Floats and brand new Model-T cars were adorned with pomp and circumstance. 

Christmas parade photos from the 1950s and 1960s show a bustling downtown Bowling Green with stores like Norman’s and Woolworth’s. Heading to town for the parade was a whole day affair back then, as all your holiday shopping was done on the square in the days before malls and online stores. Scout troops, school groups, churches, marching bands and the like, all came together to put on a show for the whole community.

Areas all over southcentral Kentucky also put on their own Christmas parades. Smith’s Grove’s Main Street has been buzzing for over 50 years with an annual parade. Glasgow’s square in Barren County has been a hub for holiday cheer for decades. 

Thanks for taking this nostalgic trip with us through the Christmas parade archives. Southern Kentucky truly is a magical place. We look forward to the next holiday we can all get together to celebrate safely again.