photo by: Mike Yoder

Six Belgian draft horses pull a carriage for Adams and Imke Belgians in the 26th annual Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, in downtown Lawrence.

New organizers for Lawrence’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade have taken the reins this year and will make sure it doesn’t disappear in the future.

Marty Kennedy, a longtime organizer for the event, told the Journal-World Thursday that new members of the parade committee want to continue the tradition after this year, which will be the 27th annual event.

“We are all working on this year’s Parade and will continue in the future,” he said via email.

For some time it appeared that the upcoming parade, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in downtown Lawrence, would be the last of the classic horse-and-carriage event. Marty and his wife, Patty Kennedy, told the Journal-World in April that this year’s event would be the last if younger people did not take over the planning of the event. Otherwise, they feared the parade would begin to dip in quality.

“We don’t want it to flop,” Marty said.

The festive parade on Massachusetts Street features all sorts of horses from across the Midwest in holiday regalia.

“We think it’s a neat element for the city,” Marty said recently.