The ongoing rehabilitation of the Cypress Creek Bridge will impact this year’s Smithfield Christmas Parade.

Since January, the circa-1975 bridge that connects downtown Smithfield with the east end of town has been restricted to a single westbound lane, with eastbound traffic diverted to the Route 10 Bypass via Main and Grace streets.

In an effort to minimize the time Main and Grace will be closed for the parade, participation will be capped at 50 entries, according to Judy Winslow, director of Smithfield’s and Isle of Wight County’s shared Tourism Department.

“We are not going beyond that,” Winslow told the Town Council at its Nov. 18 committee meetings. “We usually have far more than that in our parade. We also capped how many of each category that we were going to be able to accept because of the traffic issues.”

Connie Chapman, special events coordinator for the Tourism Department, told The Smithfield Times the decision to shorten the parade this year resulted from feedback Tourism had received following Smithfield High School’s Oct. 4 homecoming parade, which had resulted in nearly three hours of congestion on Main Street.

According to the tourism department’s website, tourism had filled all 50 available slots as of Nov. 18.

“Parade entries were open to all and were accepted in the order received until we reached capacity,” Chapman said.

Tourism took over running the parade two decades ago after the Real Smithfield Jaycees, the club that had started the parade, dissolved.

“The parade has continued to grow yearly and unfortunately, we do not have the number of staff and volunteers needed to oversee the event and continue to expand this community event safely,” Chapman said. “We have not been successful in finding an organization to take over the parade.”

Last year, a panel of judges stationed outside The Smithfield Times office along Main Street gave awards for the categories of best band, best dance team, best marching unit, best float, best animal, best vehicle, best car club and best overall.

This year the judging stand will relocate to the driveway of the fire station on Grace Street, Winslow said.

Smithfield Police Chief Alonzo Howell said his department had looked into whether it would be possible to temporarily reverse the flow of one-way traffic across the bridge for the duration of the parade so that downtown traffic would be able to leave town via South Church Street, but determined it wasn’t feasible.

“If we were to do so it would cause gridlock in the downtown area,” Howell said.

The theme for the 2024 parade is “A Country Christmas.” Darden’s Country Store, which for 72 years has operated at the corner of Bowling Green and Carroll Bridge roads 6 miles outside Smithfield, is this year’s grand marshal.

Lineup of participants will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 14 next to the Schoolhouse Museum at 518 Main St. All must line up by 10 a.m.

The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. and is scheduled through noon. It will follow its traditional route, beginning on Main Street at the western edge of the town’s historic district and continuing down North Church Street onto Grace Street.

Judges will announce award winners from 12:45-1 p.m. at the stage outside the Times office.

Work on the bridge is nearing its halfway point. The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded an $8.6 million contract to Portsmouth-based Crofton Construction, which has projected a fall 2025 completion date for repairs to the bridge’s underwater piles, replacement of 18 spans and the repainting of steel beam and replacement of the bridge’s sidewalk and barriers.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:23 a.m. on Nov. 20 with comments by special events coordinator Connie Chapman.