News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Sparta Rotary Club Christmas Parade happening Saturday will be led by a longtime local business owner and active community member.
Ernie Cheek one of the two men that will be grand marshals leading the parade. Cheek moved to the community in 1968 and later purchased an insurance company known as Cheek Insurance Agency today.
Cheek said as a parade enthusiast, the honor was overwhelming.
“I have built parade floats,” Cheek said. “I participated in the Nashville Christmas Parade, Gatlinburg, Crossville, Cookeville. Won the top prize in Cookeville for several years. I just enjoy it.”
The parade starts at the White County High School at 2:00 p.m. The route follows Allen Drive to Hampton Drive and finally to Bockman Way until it reaches the county courthouse.
“I never considered that I would be considered or much less selected,” Cheek said. “Parades have been a hobby for me. My kids ask why I like them. It’s like this. You go to work somebody is growling. You go to church somebody is growling. At a parade, everybody is happy.”
Cheek will join his friend Jim Sutcliffe as the other grand marshal. Sutcliffe a U.S Army veteran that served in World War II.
