Traffic Flows Next to Parade

By Brooke Stevenson
    There was a good turnout during the cold weather at the Seymour Christmas Parade last weekend, but there was one noticeable change.
   The parade included the usual participants including the Seymour High School Band, State Trooper and Sevier County Deputy cars, Shriners in go kart-sized semi trucks, the Seymour Volunteer Fire Fighters driving fire engines and various dance troops from the area.
   A very noticeable difference about the parade this year was the fact that traffic on Chapman Hwy. toward Knoxville was not closed off.
   Joe Hickman, parent of high school band member Isaac Hickman, was in attendance at the parade and was concerned about the flowing northbound traffic.
    “It was cold and overcast but packed,” he said. “There were a lot of kids there and a lot of candy being passed around.
    “The safety for everyone walking in the parade and watching it (was compromised) because of the moving northbound traffic.”
   The one hour parade stretches from Union Valley Rd. to Kroger on Chapman and before this year traffic in both directions had been closed off.
   Tennessee Highway Patrol State Trooper Lt. Clinton Valentine said he wasn’t sure why northbound traffic wasn’t closed because he wasn’t at the parade.
   “The parade travels south coming in toward Sevierville so they probably would let the northbound lane going toward Knoxville open,” Valentine said, adding he did not know a specific reason.
     There is a push to move the parade off of Chapman Hwy because it is causing too many safety and traffic problems.
     “Moving it too Boyds Creek wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Hickman said. “They could use the school to line up everyone before the parade.”
     Calls to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department about why the northbound lanes of Chapman were not closed during the parade were not immediately answered by press time.
    Check back with SeymourHerald.com for updates on this story.