A festive first: Pine Level’s debut Christmas Parade spreads holiday joy while making history

Malia Riggs

Elmore Autauga News

This year, the Town of Pine Level is in the business of making history as they navigate being a freshly incorporated town. Being a brand-new town, that means this year is full of firsts, including the first ever Pine Level Christmas Parade.

A crowd flocked to the county road where vendors, food trucks and other holiday festivities were in the parking lot of Spirit Walk Ministries, ready to spread holiday cheer. Parade goers dressed in red, white and blue and lined the county road in anticipation.

“The community has responded amazingly to all the historic firsts this year. Our town is small, but our community is big. They have given us a lot of grace as we are putting forth the effort to make Pine Level feel like small town America,” Pine Level mayor Zachary Bigley said.

Bigley stated that their goal is to establish traditions for generations to come so that the Mayor, the town and community will have traditions to look back on and follow in 50 or 100 years from now.

The first grand marshal for the Pine Level Christmas Parade is longtime resident Robert Kohn. He is 102 years young, a World War II veteran and has been intricately interwoven into Autauga County and the Pine Level community for decades.

While this is the first Christmas parade for Pine Level, Bigley confirmed that it definitely takes a village to be able to facilitate an event like this.

“I don’t want to leave anyone out, but the biggest shoutout goes to our Town Clerk Theresa Cook. She has a lot on her plate with all the administrative work our town has, plus she is carrying multiple roles that other municipalities have people to do. It’s all hands-on deck for Pine Level right now. Our volunteer group is amazing! Our parking coordinator! All the businesses and organizations that participate are also amazing,” Bigley said.

Bigley went on to thank the community and members of the town for their dedication and support not only in the planning, but for those that helped spread the word and attended the historic event. 

“Merry Christmas Pine Level!” Bigley said.