HANCEVILLE — A seasonally apt chill will fill the air for the return of a holiday tradition Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Cullman County Christmas Parade will kick off in Hanceville for its 35th annual celebration.

Winding its way southward down U.S. Highway 31, the parade will set off in front of the Wallace State Community College campus at 12 p.m. The city’s main fire station downtown will serve as the parade’s ending point, with Santa and Mrs. Claus waiting at the finish line for photos at the nearby Tucker Arboretum.

Sponsored by the Hanceville Civitan Club and themed around the “Songs of Christmas,” the parade also will make a brief detour through the parking lot of the Hanceville Nursing Home to bring music and holiday cheer to nursing home residents. Saturday’s forecast calls for daytime high temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s, with only a slight chance of rainfall under mostly sunny skies.

At an early November meeting, the Hanceville City Council signed off on an event request from Nature’s Effects Coffee Shop, which will host guests who linger downtown after the parade. The city will close Bangor Avenue between Stadium Street and Commercial Street to provide a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere for guests who stop by the coffee shop and other nearby downtown retail spaces.

At its Nov. 26 meeting, the council also:

— Voted unanimously (with councilmember Kennth Cornelius not in attendance) to officially rename the city’s branch of the Cullman County
Public Library to the Shirley Burden Hanceville Public Library. A beloved longtime employee at the library, Burden retired in November from a career that spanned almost two decades.
— Took no action on a proposed measure that would revise the city’s ordinance establishing pay scales for the mayor and councilmembers, with councilmember Kim Brown noting that a vote to change elected leaders’ pay should only be considered at a future meeting when all council members would be present to cast a vote. Alabama law requires that any change in municipal elected leaders’ pay cannot take effect during the administrative term in which it is made, and must be made no later than six months before an upcoming municipal election. Hanceville will hold its next municipal election in August of 2025.
— Heard a public comment request asking the council to research options for mitigating noise from freight train horns as the trains pass through the city.
— Approved the minutes of the council’s Nov. 14 regular meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Hanceville City Council will be Thursday, Dec. 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the council meeting room of Hanceville City Hall. A public work session will precede the meeting at the same location at 5 p.m.

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by email at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.