Sebring Parade Cranks Up Friday

The city's holiday season will kick off when the Sebring Christmas Parade, hosted by the Heartland Young Professionals, begins at 7 p.m. Friday.

This year's theme is "Home for the Holidays," wrote Dusty Johnson, representing the Heartland Young Professionals.

As is customary, spots in the parade have been set aside for elected officials, staff and the mayor to participate.

This year the parade will run in the opposite direction from what it has run in recent years, said Johnson, because of some construction on Highlands Avenue for the Sebring Parkway Phase II.

The cutoff number for the parade's participating groups was put at 100.

The parade's staging area will be on the Sebring Parkway between Shontee Avenue and North Ridgewood Drive.

The parade will begin at North Ridgewood Drive and the Sebring Parkway and will run south on North Ridgewood Drive, past the Sebring Police Station and into the Sebring Circle.

From the Circle the parade route turns right onto South Commerce Avenue and passes City Hall and the Highlands County Court House to the intersection of McClain Lane, where participants will turn right and the parade will end.

The young professionals have been given the authority to pull any group out of the parade that is violating the new safety procedures placed into effect by the City Council, for example for erratic driving.

As a result of a fatal accident involving a child last year in Plant City, no group that is distributing candy to the audience will be allowed to go back to the float to refill their containers.

They will be able to pull a little wagon or push a cart from which they can refill.

The Circle lights will come on as the parade enters the Circle, however Circle Park will remain closed to spectators on the night of the parade.

The 17th annual Sebring Christmas Carousel of Lights is co-sponsored by the city of Sebring and the Sebring Special Events Committee.

"We do a countdown trying to get everyone involved in the Circle," said Carousel of Lights coordinator Jon Spiegel. "It's kind of like a New Year's Eve countdown."

However, the Carousel of Lights, which reportedly features the area's largest lighting display, nightly visits with Santa and free live entertainment, doesn't open to the public until the next night.

The Carousel of Lights will run from 6 to 9 p.m., Dec. 6 through Dec. 28.

"We get a few people who have family members visit the day after Christmas, so we like to keep it going a few extra days for them," he said.

The Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency has upgraded the electric service in Circle Park on the order of about 40 percent, Spiegel has promised more razzle-dazzle in this year's carousel, according to a previous report.

"It's going to be by far the largest display we've put on," said Spiegel.

New to the holiday display will be a hot air balloon, a giant worm going in and out of the ground, race cars, turtles and octopuses.

They will be lighted and custom made for Sebring, Spiegel said.

Those looking for the traditional display won't be disappointed, finding the ever-entertaining singing zoo with songs like "The Hat I Got For Christmas Is Too Big (my sombrero is too big)" and "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer."

New additions are sand art and make-your-own-beads for a nominal fee.