TULLAHOMA, Tenn. (WKRN) — When people in Tullahoma gather downtown for the 68th annual Christmas Parade, one portion of the parade route will be noticeably quieter.
This year, the final third of the parade route down the main thoroughfare of Tullahoma will be a "siren-free" zone, where no loud noises from police cars, firetrucks or ambulances will be sounded.
The idea came from feedback officials with the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce, who organizes the parade each year, solicited after the 2023 parade.
"Last year after the parade we reached out to community partners following the parade to ask if they had any ideas to share," Executive Director Hope Nunley told News 2. "We're always looking for ways to improve the parade and experience."
It was the Tullahoma Police Department who recommended the chamber offer a "siren-free" zone of the parade, for those who may have sensitivities to loud noises, Nunley said.
It was an idea the Chamber's Parade Committee took to heart, she said, and they immediately got to work on the logistics of such a zone, including location and coordinating with all the emergency vehicles that will be featured in the parade.
The chamber even made special signs that will be placed along the curbs in the specified zones, letting families who want to take advantage of such a space know where they should watch the parade from.
Each year, the Christmas parade runs down Jackson Street in Tullahoma, starting near the post office and ending at Tullahoma High School. The approximately-1-mile trek through downtown Tullahoma will officially be "siren-free" from Walgreens to the high school.
The drugstore is a "very easily identifiable" location in Tullahoma, so making that the beginning of the sensory-accommodating area "made the most sense, when looking at the route," Nunley said.
"We just want to make the parade an enjoyable experience for all," she told News 2.
To that end, Nunley added, she and other chamber officials reached out to local community partners who cater to those with sensory issues or other disabilities "to make sure we were approaching this the right way."
Additionally, Nunley said the chamber was able to expand the reach of the message of the siren-free zone, as those groups had their own built-in networks they could use to inform families.
Still, if any parents of children with special sensory needs still want their children to wear hearing protection, Nunley said they should still feel empowered to recommend that.
"If someone still feels most comfortable wearing their earmuffs, let's make sure they bring those items to still make it an enjoyable experience for them, because we understand there are different levels of this need," she said.
News of the siren-free zone of the parade has received an "overwhelming, positive" response from the community, according to Nunley.
"Everyone is so excited to have this part implemented into the parade," she told News 2. "To our thinking, we want it to be a safe parade, and we put a lot of focus on the safety aspect. We also want to make it an enjoyable parade for all."
This year there are a record-breaking 143 entries in the parade, handily beating the previous record of 119 entries.
The Tullahoma Christmas Parade takes to the streets of downtown Tullahoma at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, starting at the Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce office on West Lincoln Street.
from WKRN News 2 https://ift.tt/bGOKkso
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