By Justin Averette

A cold rain ruined Christmas parades Saturday in Jemison and Thorsby, but the events have been rescheduled.
Thorsby’s parade will be this Saturday, Dec. 19 at 11 a.m. Jemison’s will follow later that same afternoon at 2 p.m.
Organizers had hoped to get the events in Dec. 12, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate.
Early forecasts look a little more optimistic for this weekend. The high Saturday is expected to be around 50 degree under mostly cloudy skies.

By Scott Mims

Jemison’s Christmas Parade will be held on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m.
The parade route is as follows: Lineup will be in front of Jemison High School at 1 p.m. From the high school, the parade will travel south on Highway 31 and turn right onto Church Street, cross the tracks, then turn left on Main Street, then left again onto Union Grove Road, and finally back to 31 and north to the school.
For more information about the Jemison Christmas Parade, contact Faye King at 688-2059 or City Hall at 688-4492.
Thorsby’s Christmas Parade is earlier that same day, Dec. 12. Participants are asked to line up no later than 10:30 a.m. in front of the old sewing factory, near the water tower on Alabama Avenue.
Thorsby’s parade will begin at 11 a.m., crossing over onto Highway 31 and moving south, then crossing the tracks over to Richard Wood Park, then back onto Alabama Avenue and north to the sewing factory.
For more information about Thorsby’s parade, call City Hall at 646-3575.

By Stephen Dawkins

It might not be the renovation we’ve been waiting for, but it might be a step in the right direction.
The Thorsby Town Council at its scheduled meeting Monday at the town annex voted to allow the town’s historical preservation committee to renovate the old lunchroom building that stands behind the old Thorsby school.
“If we can complete something like this, make it look nice, we’ll be able to get more people on board to renovate the big building,” committee chairwoman Tracia Bussey said.
Bussey told the council her committee is about $1,000 short of the $10,000 needed to renovate the building, which could then be rented out, similar to how the town uses Helen Jenkins Chapel.
Bussey asked the council to allow the committee to keep income from the building to use for the renovation of the school building.
Council members expressed concern over the cost of utilities and finally voted to allow the committee to keep whatever income was left after the bills had been paid.
City Clerk Denise Gunn told the council that Helen Jenkins Chapel is rented almost every weekend, which seemed to further convince the council members that renovating the lunchroom building would be worthwhile.

In other business, the council:
• Agreed to open a $50,000 line of credit, in part to pay for a new patrol car for the police department
• Allowed the town’s fire department to purchase a refurbished defibrillator for $3,600.
• Decided the town’s Christmas parade would be held beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12. Council members expressed concerns about the parade being held on the night of Dec. 11 because of poor lighting in the town and the possibility the parade could cause problems with a live nativity scene planned for that night.