Jonesboro, Arkansas – The Jonesboro Christmas parade and Christmas for Kids are two annual community initiatives that will continue under the new leadership.
The Jonesboro Jaycees split on April 30 after 70 years of community service, according to a press release from the group.
However, they made sure that the community in Northeast Arkansas would continue to benefit from their projects.
In a statement, Nettleton Baptist Church announced that it has taken over the Goodfellows and Christmas for Kids initiatives.
“They will announce sign-up procedures as soon as they have finalized details. Please follow their Facebook page for future updates,” officials said.
The Jonesboro Christmas Parade will be run by the Jonesboro Foundation of Arts in the meantime.
Executive Director Mikel Wewers remarked that he did not want to see some of the town’s best customs simply disappear into oblivion.
“It’s something that is a tradition around here and for us to keep it alive is our number one goal,” he said. “We will keep it going and then FOA has a chance to put our artist taste on it.”
Wewers claimed that as soon as they learned that the Jaycees were ending the situation, they yearned to intervene.
“We met and talked about it and thought it was a great idea,” he said. “You know the FOA is more of an umbrella organization that helps a lot of events and a lot of groups around town.”
The FOA stated that at this point, the only information they can provide regarding the parade is that it will now take place on the first Friday of December rather than the first Thursday.