Photo Provided Members of the Martins Ferry Volunteer Fire Department and Unified Bank sport blue Unified Santa hats as they prepare for the annual Martins Ferry Christmas Parade. The parade is set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27. Pictured, from left, are Dustin Smith, 2nd Lt. of the Liberty Station; Justin Smith, Captain of the Liberty Station; Stacy Carpino, regional banking executive of Unified Bank; Conner Pollock, firefighter of the Ladder Station; and Nick Jessee, 1st Lt. of the Ladder Station.

MARTINS FERRY — The Martins Ferry Volunteer Fire Department is hoping to hold its annual Martins Ferry Christmas Parade later this month so as long as COVID-19 cases are on the decline – The event is set for Nov. 27.

The fire department has hosted the parade for more than 33 years and plans to continue the tradition this year as well.

“We are hoping to be able to host this parade in order to provide some semblance of normalcy during the 2020 Christmas season,” Jack Regis Jr., parade chairman of the MFVFD, said.

“We hope spectators follow all CDC and Ohio Department of Health recommendations and standards so the parade can go on. Right now, it is a very fluid situation and based on mandates issued by the Governor (Mike DeWine) and Ohio and Belmont County Department of Health the parade may still be cancelled if the numbers of cases do not level out and start to decline.”

The fire department has been in the practice of protecting the lives and property of the residents of the city for over 130 years. As a volunteer organization, the MFVFD depends on the kindness and dedication of men and women from the area to fearlessly give of themselves daily in order to protect the citizenry of the community. These brave patriots not only give themselves for the resident’s safety, they also provide other emergency and community services including distributing food and water when emergencies arise, the Betty Zane Days Festival and Bonfire, and are hoping to soon hold the annual Christmas parade as well.

The parade is set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27. It begins on Center Street and loops throughout the city.

MFVFD Fire Chief Cody Engleman said the department is thankful for all the parade’s sponsors.

“We operate four separate stations located strategically throughout the city to enable quick responses when the need arises. These stations are The Liberty (located on Center Street), The Alerts (North Zane Highway), The Hook and Ladder (South Fourth Street), and The Vigilant (Pearl Street). Every year we look forward to relaxing a little bit and doing something just for fun, like the annual Christmas Parade. We would like to thank our parade sponsors including Unified Bank for helping make this annual event possible for the people of our community.”

Unified Bank is one of the sponsors of this year’s event. The bank has been a sponsor for many years.

“Unified has long been a proud member of the Martins Ferry community and is honored to be able to continue to sponsor events that better the communities we proudly serve,” Scoot Everson, CEO and chairman of Unified Bank, said.

“We also respect and honor the commitment made by our first responders.”