Zebulon to replace annual Christmas parade with 'Deck the Hall-Z' event

Thursday, the Zebulon Chamber of Commerce announced it will not host a Christmas parade in 2023.

The annual parade will be replaced with a stationary event. The decision is based on a bill at the legislature that would change age requirements, safety inspections, and license verifications for floats.

The proposed Shine like Hailey Parade Safety Act comes after Hailey Brooks was hit during Raleigh’s Christmas Parade last year. That bill passed the House in April but has yet to pass the Senate.

“We looked at the legislation, as it was proposed at that time. We just decided with the time, money, energy that it takes to plan and execute a parade…it makes more sense to invest our time, energy, money into something we know will be able to happen,” said John Saffold, the executive director of the Zebulon Chamber of Commerce.

The bill’s requirements apply to communities with populations of more than 35,000 people. According to Census data, the Town of Zebulon has a population of fewer than 9,000 people. That means, as it’s written currently, the bill’s requirements would not automatically apply to Zebulon unless town leadership chose to implement them.

WRAL asked Saffold why the bill was the main reason for the parade’s cancelation, if it would not apply to the town.

“As it was originally drafted…there were no population limits…There has also been a little paragraph added that municipalities of fewer than that may require [those new rules]. Not that we think that Zebulon wouldn’t cooperate with us, but again, we are uncertain as to what the final legislation will be,” he responded.

WRAL also asked about what planning what went into this year’s events. Saffold said initial conversations for the parade started last spring.

“It was a surprise to us when we started looking at the possibilities [for the 2023 parade] last spring that this legislation was in place…We thought it was the wisest use of our time and resources to focus on something that we know we can execute,” he said.

Kaleb Harmon, the communications manager for the town said the fate of the parade was also on the commissioner meeting agenda in August.

“What we were largely waiting on was making sure we could be firm and give accurate details to members of the public. We wanted to make sure we weren’t misleading anybody or giving false hope,” he said.

The City of Raleigh, also re-evaluated its Christmas Parade plans given the pending legislation. City leaders ultimately decided to allow the parade to proceed without vehicles.

In Zebulon, the chamber and the town have come up with a new event, called Deck the Hall-Z. The reimagined event will feature a Christmas tree forest, candy cane drop, classic car show, live music, food and drink vendors and a family-friendly holiday film.

“Take every aspect of the parade, make it stationary. The pedestrians are the ones that move about versus vehicles pulling floats,” Saffold said.

The new Deck the Halls event will be Friday, Dec. 8 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Zebulon Municipal Building.

“The parade isn’t what made that event great; it’s the people coming together and celebrating,” Harmon said.