Parade Will Have New Organizer; Rules Questioned

The Cookeville Putnam County Chamber of Commerce will not organize this year’s Christmas Parade, and the follow-up plan has caused new concerns.

A group of local churches calling itself Cookeville Christian Christmas Parade, LLC, decided to organize the parade. On the application form, the section called Parade Rules, requires those who wish to participate agree to a series of faith-based requirements. Those include guidelines that marriage is between a male and a female, and a statement surrounding abortion.

Under the Code Of Conduct section, the application reads the Cookeville Christmas Parade “will be governed by the Statement of Faith. All individuals and organizations participating in this parade are expected to honor those statements and not be in opposition (blatant or assumed) while participating in any portion of the parade or meetings.”

Life Church, and the River Community Church are listed on the application as being part of the initiative.

The City Of Cookeville released a statement Friday afternoon that the parade has never been hosted or paid for by the City of Cookeville.

“While the parade has certainly been a welcome tradition for the residents of the city, it simply has never been produced by the City of Cookeville government in many decades,” The Statement read. “The private group simply applied for a temporary street closure for a parade, as any other private group is permitted to do and as any kind of parade-type event requires.”

“It is extremely unfortunate that something like a Christmas parade has become such a controversial event in this day and time, but the City of Cookeville government is not involved with this event at all. Any requirements by this private group concerning participation in the parade are not enforced by, are not approved by, and should not be attributed to the City of Cookeville.”

The Chamber Of Commerce faced criticism last year over its exclusion of Upper Cumberland Pride from the parade.