Just like any other celebrity, Santa Clause has to make public appearances.

Only the Jolly Ole' Fat Man has trouble squeezing in all his appearances just like he has difficulty squeezing into his red suit every Christmas Eve.

The Crenshaw County Chamber of Commerce was fortunate to book Santa this holiday season for an appearance in its annual Christmas parade.

"He

always shows up for parades," Crenshaw County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sherri Richburg said. "Santa loves parades."

The parade will be held at 11 a.m. on Dec. 4. The parade route will loop around the city, beginning at the old armory. The spectacle of floats, cars and horses will travel to Hwy. 331 and travel east to Forest Ave., turn at Third Street and head back to the armory.

As for Santa, he will be at the tail end of the parade to help ring in the holiday season. The parade expected to last 20 minutes.

"Preparations are going fine," Richburg said. "We've had a lot of calls and we've got a lot of entries."

Richburg said there is an assortment of floats entered in this year's parade.

"We have churches with floats, we'll have beauty queens and several businesses are putting floats in it as well," she said. "We'll also have lot of vehicles, motorcycles, horses and those types of things."

Organizations, businesses and individuals throughout the county are participating in this year's event. Richburg said the motorcycle crew will be made up of bike lovers from throughout the state.

The Crenshaw County Department of Human Resources (DHR) will have several toy boxes setup on the parade route. The motorcycle group will dump bags filled with toys into the boxes, which Santa and the DHR will use to help provide Christmas for needy families.

The entry fee to participate in the parade is free. The Chamber just asks that all participants bring a toy for the toy drive.