Soddy Daisy Hanging On To Christmas Parade Tradition

  • Friday, November 18, 2016
Chris Harper, right, presents Soddy Daisy Fire Chief Mike Guffey a check for $311.50 that was raised at Daisy Masonic Lodge for the Soddy Daisy Firefighters' Benevolent Fund for childrens' Christmas gifts.
Chris Harper, right, presents Soddy Daisy Fire Chief Mike Guffey a check for $311.50 that was raised at Daisy Masonic Lodge for the Soddy Daisy Firefighters' Benevolent Fund for childrens' Christmas gifts.
There will be a Soddy Daisy Christmas Parade this year, and it will be on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m., according to Robert Cothran, vice mayor, who said he has had numerous residents ask him if there was even going to be a parade this year.

Mr. Cothran made the announcement during the Soddy Daisy Commission's amended meeting on Thursday evening at the city's Municipal Building.

The parade “staging area,” he said, will be between the “old Erlanger hospital parking lot” and Daisy United Methodist Church.
He stressed that there will be signs stating that no spectators will be allowed past the “south end” of Daisy Church of God. “All spectators will have to be north of the Daisy Church of God for safety reasons,” he explained, noting the road construction going on south of the church.

The city's annual Community Christmas celebration will be on Saturday, Dec. 3, Commissioner Gene Shipley noted, adding that the exact time of the event will be announced later but that it will most likey be mid afternoon to about 7 p.m.

Entertainment for the event will include several local singing groups performing Christmas music and additional performers providing “a little country music,” he said. Soddy Daisy Mayor Rick Nunley said he thought it was a good idea “because the more performers we have, the more participation we will have from the public.” 

The event, said Mr. Shipley, should be “better advertised” via perhaps four-foot-by-eight-foot signs “at each end of the city.”

Old business addressed by the commission was an ordinance of the city amending Title 12 of the Soddy Daisy Municipal Code that added a new Chapter 6, titled “Fire Prevention Rapid Entry Requirements.” It was the second and final reading, and all the commissioners approved it.

The ordinance will, according to Fire Chief Mike Guffey, enhance fire safety by using a new code which will involve a lockable key box. The only key to the box will be held by the Soddy Daisy Fire Department, and all schools, public or private, new businesses with sprinklers or fire alarms, and all health care facilities and nursing homes will be required to have a lock box. However, if a business is open 24 hours a day, it will not be required to participate.

New business for the evening included approval of the first reading of an ordinance of the city to “amend Title 8 of the Soddy Daisy municipal code relative to the sale of wine by retail food stores and providing for the inspection fee allowed by state law for the same." Soddy Daisy residents voted on November 8 to allow wine sales in retail food stores. The vote was 3,549 for and 1,208 against the referendum.

Also approved by the commission under new business was a public hearing and first reading of an ordinance of the city amending Title 8, Chapter 2, of the Soddy Daisy municipal code “redefining the term 'beer' to bring the code into compliance with the definition of 'beer' regarding alcohol percentages in the Tennessee Code.

No one among the general public who attended the Thursday meeting objected or commented on either of the above ordinances.

Also during the Thursday meeting, Chris Harper announced that Soddy Daisy Masonic Lodge No. 706 and Daisy Chapter No. 328 of Eastern Star will sponsor its second annual Santa Workshop on Saturday, Nov. 26, at Daisy Masonic Lodge, 125 Oakwood Drive.

The event will include free arts and crafts, treats and other goodies, and the Tennessee Child Identification Program will be available for any interested families.

Mr. Harper also presented Fire Chief Guffey a check for $311.50 that was raised at Daisy Masonic Lodge for the Soddy Daisy Firefighters' Benevolent Fund, which provides Christmas gifts for children.
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