Rotary Christmas Parade

This annual event took place on Saturday, Dec. 9, in downtown Fayetteville. The parade's route ran from the Person Street entrance of the courthouse down to the train station. VIP bleachers were set up at the Arts Council, where there was also a announcer for the televised broadcast of the parade (which will be rebroadcast on News 14 Carolina Christmas morning), as well as a secondary announcer that talked directly to the assembled crowds.

This year's parade featured10 high school marching bands, dozens of commercial floats and several homemade floats as well. There were also several ROTC units from various high schools, owners of antique vehicles, different church groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, an entry from the library system and of course players and the bus from the Fayetteville Guard.

This year's Grand Marshall was NASA astronaut Bill McArthur, who is originally from Red Springs, N.C. McArthur spent about six months in the space station earlier this year. He is the second astronaut who has appeared as Grand Marshall for the Rotary Christmas Parade. The first was Curtis Brown, from Elizabethtown, N.C.