The drive-through Downtown Holiday Cruise will start at 6 p.m. Friday. The city is hosting the “reverse” parade that will include Santa Claus, a lit Christmas Tree and holiday music. P-J file photo

The unique drive-through Downtown Holiday Cruise is cause for excitement.

That is the sentiment from a few of the organizations participating in the city’s first ever “reverse” Christmas parade that will start at 6 p.m. Friday.

Last month, it was announced that city officials would have to cancel the traditional holiday parade. However, in it’s place, a new safe drive-through event featuring Santa Claus, a lit Christmas Tree and holiday music will be held. A number of businesses and organizations will be setting up stationery “floats” or displays in parking spaces along Third Street between Washington Street and Prendergast Avenue. Spectators are invited to drive through and enjoy the sights.

Alicia Main, Girl Scout Troop 20155 spokesperson, said her Girl Scouts love to do new and fun things, which led them to participating in Jamestown’s first reverse holiday parade.

“This is a way for us to get out and participate in activities, and it’s safe for our girls,” she said.

Main said the troop was planning to be a part of the holiday parade before the pandemic changed it into a cruise.

“We’ve never been in the parade before and we were going to do a float, but now with the reverse style, it will be safer for the community,” she said.

Brian Pashkow, Boy Scouts of American Troop 152 scout master, said in past year’s his troop had participated in the parade, usually sitting on a borrowed trailer. However, this year he said they will be along Third Street with a tent and a propane stove making Smores.

“This will give them something to do and it shows what the boys do when they do camp outs,” he said. ”

Pashkow said it wasn’t his choice to participate in the parade. He said the boys wanted to be a part of the holiday fun.

“They want to bring some type of normalcy back to Jamestown,” he said. “It was their decision. They’re excited. There was no hesitation about the pandemic.”

Jacob Kindberg, Jamestown Tarp Skunks director of business operations, said he thought it was a great idea when he heard about the drive-through cruise.

“It’s a clever way to have the Christmas parade go on safely with COVID. To come up with a responsible way to have the parade that is safe for the community,” he said. “We are interested to see what the turnout will be like. What kind of interaction we can have with the passing cars. It will be weird because we can’t give anything out, so we’re going to have things for social media like having people take their picture with our mascot.”

Kindberg said the reaction has been positive from the people he has spoken to about the reverse parade.

“A lot of businesses and some of our partners are excited about it. I think they all agree it’s a great opportunity to get out there and do it for the community. I think everyone is looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for us and other businesses to get some publicity and marketing with it being a challenging time for businesses.”

The entrance to the parade route will be at Third and Washington streets. Drivers must obey traffic signals on the approach to and during the cruise event. All traffic on Third Street for the Downtown Holiday Cruise will be directed from west to east as the route is one-way only. Jamestown Police will be on hand to help direct traffic as needed and at Tracy Plaza to keep crowds from gathering.

The city’s Christmas Tree will be lit prior to the reverse-parade and will be livestreamed so that people can watch safely from home. In accordance with state safety guidelines there will be no handouts and no sales allowed by vendors this year. Spectators are urged to view the “parade in reverse” by car with their immediate household members.

Viewers are also encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the local Toys for Tots event at the end of the cruise. A special collection station will be set up at the end of the driving route at Third Street and Prendergast Avenue to accept the donations.

Downtown businesses are encouraged to remain open for business for the evening following all current state protocols for social distancing and mask-wearing.