December 9, 2019 - Joaquin held its annual Christmas Festival this past Saturday and it was absolutely top notch.
Mr. A. J. Procell led our parade as Grand Marshal. He was present at the peace treaty signing at Pearl Harbor and our parade was on Pearl Harbor Day. He spoke to our crowd and got our day started perfectly.
Joaquin Christian Services received several thousand dollars to replenish what we have spent in 2019 from the raffle items and auction sponsored by the East Texas Chopper Guys. Our auctioneer, Mr. J.C. Lewis, did an outstanding job getting top dollar for items. Many thanks to him and his efforts.
Everyone had so much fun. The Cake Walk, sponsored by Community Christian Services, had a boat load of cakes and goodies made by the wonderful bakers at Haslem Baptist Church and I’m sure they made some extra needed money for their work supplying food and milk to our local families in need. Everyone loves a cake walk and there were many winners and plenty of smiles to go around.
I believe the food and craft vendors had a good day and I know the kids enjoyed the bounce houses and games. The music was another outstanding part of the day. Almost all were live performances and many thanks to Sue Finch and Mark Lawrence for doing such a great job getting it all together.
Trey Wilson’s performance was also very well received. We had a very good car show as well as a motorcycle show and many entrants participated in the parade. The parade was the best we have had in many years with local churches and businesses showing out in a big way. Such a fun day for the folks in Joaquin who came out.
The Ram band also marched with twirlers performing. I must thank Councilwoman Krystal Raybon for her outstanding efforts as the event coordinator. She worked tirelessly for many days putting all things beautiful together.
Our theme was a "Hallmark Christmas" and the town was decorated beautifully. Lastly a big thank you to our mayor and his wife, Bill and Kathy Baker and all the town employees for their hard work and long hours putting up everything from lights in the park to lights atop the buildings and putting up the giant Christmas tree.
We will look forward to doing it all again in 2020 and thankfully we will have several months to recuperate from this years efforts.
