NORTH VERNON — As the winter sun sat on Tuesday, a line of emergency vehicles with lights blinking and sirens blaring rolled through the hills and dales of Country Squire Lakes.
The big red fire trucks, sheriff cars, ambulances, wrecker trucks and other emergency response vehicles were all a part of the Christmas cheer parade organized by local first responders.
Families observed social distancing as they stood along the roadways and cheered and waved as the parade passed, and kids scrambled to pick up candy thrown to them from the vehicles.
A laughing 9-year-old Kendal Sons jumped up and down as she said, “This was a good surprise. This is fun.”
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North Vernon Fire Department Chief Mike Cole said Scipio-Geneva Township Fire Department Chief David Owsley had the idea to hold the event.
“This was all just for fun,” Cole said. “David Owsley got the rest of us involved. It was a spontaneous thing.”
The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, Wrecker 31, Rescue 20, North Vernon Fire Department, and Campbell, Scipio-Geneva, Spencer and Vernon township fire departments all participated in the event.
The parade left CSL and headed for the Hayden School and then followed U.S. 50 onto North Vernon’s State Street past several nursing homes before concluding by Pizza Hut.
