Heartland Homecoming Parade back for 41st year

A late-summer staple in Elizabethtown will return next weekend.

“The Heartland Homecoming Parade is Saturday, August 24,” said Elizabethtown Events Manager Beth Pyles. “Step off is at 10 a.m. This will be the 41st event for the Heartland Homecoming Parade. We step off on the square and travel north on Dixie Highway, ending at St. John Road.”

The theme for this year’s parade is “Hello Hollywood.”

“We are very excited about that, and some of the floats that you will see will be showing some of the latest and greatest favorite Hollywood stars, so we’re very excited about the entries we have this year,” Pyles said. “We have over 70 entries in the parade this year.”

The entertainment theme fits in well with the selection of this year’s parade Grand Marshal Betty Marsee, the former co-president of Youth Theatre of Hardin County.

“Her name is synonymous with Youth Theatre of Hardin County, and her and her late husband led the board as a team until she retired,” Pyles said. “The impact that they’ve had on our community is immense, and we could not think of someone more fitting to be the grand marshal, especially with the theme of ‘Hello Hollywood.’”

Road closures in the area of the parade began at 7 a.m. on August 24. The parade is set to begin at 10 a.m. Visit the Events page on the City of Elizabethtown website for more information.