Downtown Lexington was full of families, businesses, schools and other organizations as they participated in the annual Lexington Holiday Parade.
On Saturday, Dec. 7, families and community members watched the parade on Main Street as it moved from Midland Avenue and ended at Tandy Pavilion with an interactive area for kids named “Santa’s Corner.”
The event provided University of Kentucky students to put on the parade who were enrolled in an event planning class from the Department of Integrated Strategic Communications (ISC).
“It’s a huge undertaking, but boy, I tell you, every semester students rise to the occasion, and this has been an exceptional group of young professionals that I’ve had the pleasure of working with this semester,” Marc Whitt, professor of the event planning class, said.
Students in the ISC class worked in different groups: public relations for the event, recruiting for the parade, working on the “Santa’s Corner” of the event and pre and post-parade events.
“I love just seeing all the people that have shown up for the parade. It’s a very cold day out, but we’ve had a great outcome,” ISC senior, Cameron Adams, said.
James and Nicole Kelleher, who moved from Missouri to Lexington a year and a half ago, were spending their first holiday season in the city and wanted to explore what the parade had to offer.
“Every weekend there’s something going on somewhere in Lexington or close by, so that’s been really nice to explore,” Nicole said.
For communications senior Maddie Mason, the event was the perfect way to dive into the holiday season.
“I was really wanting to get in the Christmas spirit,” Mason said.
Mason enjoyed going downtown to watch the parade, which featured performances by local dance companies, high school bands like Lafayette High School Marching Band and UK groups, including the women’s soccer team and DanceBlue.
The collaboration between UK’s department of ISC and the Downtown Lexington Partnership began four years ago when Marc Whitt and Laura Farnsworth, director of development and events for Downtown Lexington Partnership, met at the Starbucks in the Gatton Student Center.
“One thing led to another over that cup of coffee and here we are,” Whitt said.
Whitt explained that he saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world experience with a major company.
After teaching the course in the traditional format, he wanted to add a service learning component.
The conversation at Starbucks sparked the idea of partnering with the Downtown Lexington Partnership as it gave students the chance to contribute to a high-profile community event while working on their skills.
Whitt and Farnsworth helped establish the partnership through the Lexington Holiday Parade.
“My favorite part is seeing the look of everyone having so much fun and then turning and seeing the faces on my students because everything we’ve talked about and planned for when you’re seeing it come to reality, there’s so much joy on their faces,” Whitt said.
