Montevideo Christmas Parade Rounds Out Holiday Events Sunday

The weather should be perfect Sunday for the 30th annual Montevideo Christmas Parade.

As it does every year, the parade begins at 2 p.m. Sunday on the Hart County/Elbert County line.

It’s a parade for the “other guy,” with no special rules, no pomp and circumstance, just a lot of fun, organizers said.

Spectators come from all over Northeast Georgia and the Carolinas to watch the parade and be in it.

The event in Montevideo always takes place the Sunday before Christmas.

Ben Brown’s late father, Richard, was one of the original organizers of the parade that is commonly known as the Redneck Christmas parade, although Brown doesn’t like that term.

“Nobody exactly knows who the founder was,” said Brown. “A bunch of people ust kind of got together one year and said, ‘lets have a parade’ and they go on their tractors and trucks and they made a loop. From there, it just got bigger and bigger til it turned into a full-blown parade.”

30 years later, thousands show up to be in the parade and to watch it go by.

The parade route stretches about 2.5 miles from beginning to end along Montevideo Road.

It starts in Hart County at the old Montevideo store and ends at the Rock Branch Community Center in Elbert County.

Brown said no entry fees are charged to be in the parade, you just need to show up and line up.

“All they have to do is show up. Anybody can be in who can act civil. They can pretty much ride in what they want and do what you want as long as you’re acting civil,” Brown said.

Over the years, the parade has included all kinds of participants, everything from cars to horses, to highly decorated floats to sheriff’s cars, wagons, Harley-Davidsons, four-wheelers, ambulances, antique cars, you name it.

Again, the Montevideo “Redneck” Christmas parade takes place Sunday afternoon at 2p.
Spectators are advised to come early to get a good parking spot and a good spot for viewing the parade.