10/29/2026
Congratulations are in order for Mary John 🫶🏻
We can't wait to celebrate your years of service RIDING in this year's parade ❤️❤️
For 35 years, Mary John Carmon has helped make Christmas happen in Downtown Bowling Green. This year, we have the honor of celebrating her. ❤️
We are incredibly proud to announce Mary John Carmon as the Grand Marshal of the 2026 Bowling Green–Warren County Jaycees Christmas Parade!
As we celebrate the parade’s 70th year with “Christmas Through the Decades,” it feels especially meaningful to recognize someone who has devoted so much of her life to carrying this tradition forward.
For generations of families, the Christmas parade means bundling up, gathering downtown, hearing the bands approach, spotting familiar faces on floats, and waiting for Santa. Those memories become part of our childhoods—and traditions we share with children of our own.
Behind those moments are people willing to give their time and take on the work that makes them possible. For 35 years as Parade Chairman, Mary John has done exactly that.
Communicating with participants, organizing entries, arranging the lineup, coordinating publicity, and bringing everything together on parade morning takes tremendous time and commitment. Much of that work happens before spectators ever arrive, but its impact is felt by everyone along the route.
Mary John, thank you for continuing to make room for this community alongside your business, your family, and your many other responsibilities. Thirty-five years is an extraordinary gift of time, and we are deeply grateful.
Your service also reaches far beyond the parade. As a Warren County Jaycee, former local and Kentucky Jaycees president, Kiwanis member, and so many other volunteer efforts you have shared your leadership and talents in support of our community’s children and families.
This year, we want the families along the parade route to have the opportunity to wave, applaud, and thank someone whose dedication has helped make their Christmas memories possible.
Congratulations, Mary John, on being named our 2026 Grand Marshal! Thank you for your leadership, your heart for this community, and 35 years of helping give Bowling Green a reason to gather downtown and celebrate together. ❤️🎄
Please join us in congratulating Mary John! If she has been part of your parade experience, photographed a special chapter of your life, or served alongside you, share a memory or word of thanks below. Let’s make sure she knows how much she is appreciated.
