The city of Jemison is changing the route for its annual Christmas Parade.

This year’s parade, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m., will line up at 1 p.m. in the Jemison High School parking lot as usual. However, the parade will stay solely on U.S. Highway 31, traveling south from the high school and ending at Jemison First Baptist Church.

In past years, the parade turned off of 31 and circled back to the school.

“The old route caused us to have to cross the railroad tracks at two different locations,” said Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer. “It’s always been my fear that a float or some other vehicle participating in the parade would get hung up on the tracks. We have also always dealt with the problem of the front of the parade catching the rear and the parade bottling up and coming to a standstill. This new route will eliminate those two things for sure, and I think will present a much safer and enjoyable event for the people and for the parade participants.”

Spectators are encouraged to occupy both sides of Highway 31 from just below the school all the way to Jemison Florist. This will allow those in the parade who do not need to go back to the high school to simply continue south on U.S. 31 to their destinations, Fulmer said.

Thorsby’s Christmas Parade is being held at 4 p.m. that afternoon, and many participants in the Jemison parade go on to join Thorsby’s parade as well.

“This will allow them to continue from our parade to Thorsby’s with not much trouble if any,” Fulmer added. “This new route is 4-tenths of a mile shorter than the old route.”