Grand marshals have been announced for this year’s Valleywide Christmas Parade, which will roll at 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 6.

There will be six of them this year — Richard Ballard, Kathryn Crawford, Roger McDonald, Charles Pigg, Suellen Snowden and Cooter Williams. Each one had a lengthy career in community recreation, starting with WestPoint Pepperell and continuing with the cities of Valley and Lanett. They will be out front in the parade when it leaves the Cherry Valley Shopping Center parking lot onto North 12th Street in Lanett and heads into downtown West Point on West 4th Avenue.

The parade will follow the same route it has followed in recent years. At the corner of West 4th Avenue and West 10th Street on the Point University campus, it will turn right and take the next left onto West 3rd Avenue, where it will proceed through the heart of downtown West Point. The parade will cross the state line into Lanett on Highway 29 and head south, crossing I-85 into Valley and continuing to Walmart, where it will disband.

There will be first, second and third-place awards for parade floats. The first-place winners will receive a perpetual plaque. Their name will go on it for 2018.

The plaque will go to next year’s winner; their name will go on it and so on. Second and third-place winners will receive trophies. Awards will be given in the school, business and community divisions.

Entries are still being accepted for the parade.

It’s $35 per unit or $30 and five canned goods. Registration is taking place at the community center. Forms will be accepted until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

The canned goods that are received will be divided equally between the Interfaith Food Closet, the West Point Food Bank and the Christian Service Center. Monetary donations will be going to each one of these organizations.