CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty will kick off the holiday season in the Queen City as the Grand Marshal of the 2015 Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade in uptown.
Petty will join a parade line-up that features musical performers, marching bands from throughout the region, as well as the always popular floats and balloons.
"We are so excited that Richard Petty will join the parade's fun, and help families from the Carolinas and beyond start their Thanksgiving Day celebrations," said Robert Krumbine, Chief Creative Officers for Charlotte Center City Partners.
The annual parade is a Charlotte tradition that has entertained audiences since 1947. Charlotte Center City Partners assumed management and production of the parade in 2013.
This year's parade will step off at 9:30 a.m. and will begin at Stonewall Street and travel north along Tryon Street to 10th Street.
Notable entries in this year's parade include:
- Benton Blount, a singer from Greenville, S.C., who was a finalist on NBC's America's Got Talent
- The Mountain Faith Band, a bluegrass band from Sylva, N.C., which appears on America's Got Talent
- Beth Spangler, who performed on NBC's The Voice
- Coach David Marsh and members of the SwimMAC Carolina Team Elite
- UNC-Charlotte Pride of the Niner Nation Marching Band
- Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands
- Miss North Carolina 2015 Kate Peacock
- Miss South Carolina 2015 Daja Dial
The parade will also feature seven high school marching bands, 12 balloons, 21 floats, and seven "Segwalloons," the parade's signature balloon characters attached to Segways.
