Holiday Cheer Fills Town of Liberty for Sunday’s Christmas Parade

December 2, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

Christmas cheer and holiday spirit filled the town of Liberty on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon for the annual Christmas Parade.

With rains having forced a one week postponement of the Smithville Parade on Saturday, Liberty became the opening act for parade lovers in DeKalb County this year featuring a showcase of holiday themed floats, vintage automobiles and farm tractor, horse and mule drawn wagons, horseback riders, the DCHS band, scouts, kings and queens from the fair and various civic organizations, the grand marshal, WSMV meteorologist Daphne DeLoren , Mr and Ms. DeKalb County Dr. Hugh Don Cripps and Lora Webb, special entries from local businesses and utility companies, ATVs and motorcycles, Smoky the Bear and the Tennessee Forestry Division, emergency vehicles including the DeKalb County EMS, DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department featuring the Liberty Station, Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, Sheriff Patrick Ray, Constables, State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver, and more including the star of the show, Santa Claus.

Parade participants began lining up at Salem Baptist Church and putting finishing touches on their floats as early as an hour before start time and then as the parade made its way down Main Street to the center of town it was greeted by hundreds who lined with street to get a good view and a chance to scoop up some of the candy tossed to the crowd by Santa and others in the parade.

After the parade, awards were presented to the best entries and drawings were held for prize giveaways.

Oakley’s Thrift Store of Smithville took 1st place for their float entry depicting the peanuts comic strip characters. Second place went to the Dowelltown Baptist Church with the theme “Unwrap the meaning of Christmas”.

In the category vintage automobiles/tractors, Jeff and Ellen Herrin of Smithville won 1st place for their 1953 Chevy 210 car. Second place went to Donnie Bratcher for his 1964 Chevy Impala.

In the entry for small kids, Zane Griffith of Dowelltown took 1st place and 2nd place went to Alexis Reynolds of Liberty. Both were operating ATVs.

The Liberty Parade was sponsored by the Town of Liberty and Liberty State Bank.

Sponsored by the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department, this year’s Smithville Christmas parade is set for Saturday, December 8. The line-up begins at 11 a.m. and the parade will depart Smithville Elementary School at 1 p.m. making its way down South Congress Boulevard to the Public Square. The deadline for entering the parade is Friday, December 7. Any entry after the deadline will be placed at the back of the parade line. To enter contact Jeff Wright at 615-597-6750 or John Poss at 931-349-5598

The Alexandria Christmas Parade will be Sunday, December 9 at 2 p.m. with the line-up at 1 p.m. on West Main Street. To enter, contact Jessica Cripps at the Alexandria City Hall to fill out an entry form. Call 615-529-2171 for more information.

(VIEW VIDEO OF SUNDAY’S 2018 LIBERTY CHRISTMAS PARADE BELOW)

M2U02856 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

December 2, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

A Sunday morning fire destroyed the residence of Donald Nelson at 1224 Jimmy Malone Road at Liberty.

Central dispatch received the call at around 7:30 a.m.

(VIDEO SHOWS FIREFIGHTERS SETTING UP PREPARING TO ATTACK THE FIRE)

IMG_2998 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Members of the Liberty, Main Station, Cookeville Highway stations, and the tanker truck of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department responded but could not save the structure. No one was injured.

The cause of the fire is undetermined but apparently started from the upstairs level of the home.

According to County Fire Chief Donny Green Nelson’s wife was home at the time when a smoke alarm sounded from upstairs. She also heard popping and cracking noises coming from there. When the woman stepped outside, she saw smoke coming from the upstairs.

In the meantime, her husband, who had gone hunting near the home, was alerted by an alarm sent to his cell phone. Mr. Nelson returned home and saw the fire and smoke. 911 was contacted and firefighters responded along with DeKalb EMS and the Sheriff’s Department.

All the families’ belongings in the home were lost in the blaze.

December 1, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

Christmas is the season for giving and the children who participated in Saturday’s Annual Regifting Event had a chance to experience that by doing something special for their parents and total strangers.

Held at the county complex, the 4^th annual Regifting Event gave children ages 5 to 11 an opportunity to shop for their parents at no cost. The gifts were then wrapped, tagged, and prepared for Christmas giving.

Donations are collected throughout the year for this event so that those who can’t afford to buy gifts can still share in the joy of giving by regifting something.

“We let kids come in and shop for their parents or caregivers. It’s not income based. It’s for anybody. They shop for free, wrap the presents, and fill out the card,” said Kim Walker, who organizes the annual event.

The children are then asked to prepare a blessing bag to be given to others.

“This year we are doing the blessing bags for emergency foster care. The bags include a blanket, socks, cup, toothbrush, and a toy.  In the past we have done it for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, residents at NHC, and the homeless shelter,” said Walker.

For their good deeds each of the children get to take home a goodie bag.

Walker said the hope is the children take home more than that. “We’re trying to share God’s love with kids to plant a seed so that no matter how old they are they always remember to help somebody else”.

The kids and other volunteers also decorated a quilt square. “After they decorate the quilt squares we put them together and donate the quilt to somebody who needs a blessing in the community,” said Walker.

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