Strike up the band! Here come the Christmas parades!

Yes, communities all around us are getting ready to kick off the holiday season, some of them this weekend, and that includes tree lightings.

First out of the gate are Flowery Branch and Braselton, where parades and tree lightings are scheduled Saturday, while in Gainesville the annual Jingle Mingle takes place downtown on Saturday. EARLIER STORIES: Gainesville officially kicks off the holiday season in two weeks (wgtjradio.com) Jingle Mingle street, parking closings (wgtjradio.com)

Then, next weekend, after we’ve all (maybe) recovered from our Thanksgiving feasts it’ll be Clermont’s turn, followed by Lula a week later on Dec. 2. And Gainesville’s Christmas on Green Street parade will take place the next day. EARLIER STORY: Xmas on Green St.: Some changes planned this year (wgtjradio.com)

About the Author

Ken Stanford is Online News Editor for GLORY 97.5, a position he has held since August 2022.

Ken was born in Moultrie, Georgia, and says he knew from the time he was 5 or 6 he wanted to be a “radio announcer.” That dream was realized when he was hired by Moultrie radio station WMTM in 1960 at the age of 15 as a weekend disc jockey. A 1963 graduate of Moultrie (now Colquitt County) High School, he has spent his whole career in Georgia working for stations in Atlanta, Marietta, and Gainesville – most recently as News Director for 40 years at WDUN in Gainesville. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Ken retired in 2011 but came out of retirement last year to help GLORY, on a part-time basis, beef-up its online news presence.

He is the recipient of many Associated Press awards and is a former judge of state and national Associated Press broadcast news contests. In 2005, he was presented with the Georgia Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s President’s Award for Excellence in Journalism and in 2019 was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

He lives in Gainesville with his wife of 52 years, the former Sandra McKnight of Clio, Alabama, and they have one child, a daughter, Lisa, who lives in Cumming with her family.