At least 140 entries, including dancers, custom-crafted floats, cheerleading groups, hip-hop dancers, baton twirlers and musical acts, will be featured in this year's Coatesville Christmas Parade, which will take place on Saturday, Dec. 3, beginning at 10 a.m. The parade, which is traditionally held on the first Saturday in December, will travel on Lincoln Highway (Business Route 30), starting at Strode Avenue and ending at the performance and judging area at 11th Avenue and Lincoln Highway.

Featured performers in the parade this year will include members of the Duffy String Band and Quaker City String Band, both from the Philadelphia area, as well as the Eagles Pep Band, Lukens Band and Chester County Emerald Society Pipe Band. There will also be an appearance by Miss Pennsylvania 2022 Alyssa Bainbridge and Carmella Mirenda, the reigning National American Miss Pennsylvania Teen, who resides in Coatesville.

A highlight of the parade will be an appearance by cartoon characters, such as the Grinch, Scooby-Do, Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee, Prince Charming and Cinderella. "We will have cartoon characters along the parade route that kids would recognize. They interact with the kids and take photos with them," said parade committee member Marianne Scibek.

Members of the Krapf family will be honored as the grand marshal. "The Krapf family, including Dallas and Dale, run school buses and (charter) buses for the community," said Scibek.

Special honorees will include the Caln Township 10U girls' softball team, which won the Little League Eastern Regional title, as well as local Vietnam War veterans, who will be on a float in the parade, an effort being organized by local Boy Scout Nathan Bean as his Eagle Scout Project.

First-, second- and third-place prizes will be awarded for Best Appearing Float sponsored by a nonprofit organization, with one winning float sponsored by a for-profit organization. There will be a competition for Best Appearing Group, Best Appearing Fire Apparatus and Best Appearing Police Vehicle. Antique, classic and modified autos will also compete for prizes.

The parade will conclude with an appearance by Santa Claus, riding on a Coatesville Fire Department truck.

The Coatesville Christmas Parade began in the 1950s, but it was taken over as a project by the Coatesville Jaycees in the 1970s. However, leadership disbanded a decade later. In the early 1990s, a group of former Jaycees along with other members of the Coatesville community and with the support of the Stewart Huston Charitable Trust and the City of Coatesville, decided it was time to bring the parade back to the community.

This year's presenting sponsor is Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel plate production facility located in Coatesville, which now operates the plant formerly known as the Lukens Steel Company. The Platinum Sleigh sponsor this year is Penn Medicine, which includes Chester County Hospital and Lancaster General Health Parkesburg.

For information, visit http://www.coatesvillechristmasparade.com, email committee@coatesvillechristmasparade.com or search for "Coatesville Christmas Parade, Inc." on Facebook.