PARA seeking names for Christmas parade grand marshals

Posted Sep 17, 2019 at 9:30 AM
The Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority is seeking nominees to serve as the grand marshals for the 44th annual West Alabama Christmas Parade.
Hosted by the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority, this year’s parade will be held Dec. 13 and recognized as the official Tuscaloosa Bicentennial parade.
Nominations forms are due Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. and can be obtained at any PARA facility or online at PARA’s website, tcpara.org/westalchristmasparade.
Submitting the forms can be made one of three ways:
• Hand Delivery: PARA Building, 614 Greensboro Ave.
• U.S. Mail: PARA, Grand Marshal Nomination, P.O. Box 2496, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403
• Email: Send to Becky Booker, PARA’s public relations and marketing manager, bbooker@tcpara.org
The nominations will be reviewed and the grand marshal — or grand marshals, if there is more than one — selected by a committee of community representatives, PARA officials said.
Any person or group may submit a nomination, but the nominees should meet a set of criteria in order to qualify. These include:
• Significant community contributions
• Lifetime achievements with a lasting community effect
• Career accomplishments
According to PARA, legendary University of Alabama head football coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant served as the grand marshal of the first West Alabama Christmas Parade in 1976.
The only person to serve twice as grand marshal was stock car driver Bobby Allison, considered one of the best race