Aurora Christmas parade grand marshals

The Aurora Houn’ Dawg Alumni & Outreach Center, the All-School Reunion Committee and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce will be expanding the honors of the Aurora High School football program being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame with a special holiday event Saturday, Dec. 14. Those involved with the Aurora football program’s powerful legacy will be honored as the 2019 Grand Marshals of the Aurora Christmas Parade.
Lunch will be served from 11 to 1 p.m. and a short program will follow in the gymnasium at the old armory, now known as the Houn’ Dawg Alumni & Outreach Center at 409 W. Locust.
Additional plaques will be distributed that day for those who failed to get one in October at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame event.
“We were so pleased with the sense of community and the support for such a powerful legacy at the October 4 Homecoming event where the 1969 State Championship Team was honored as Hall of Fame members at the Houn’ Dawg Alumni & Outreach Center. Then, when the entire program was honored in Springfield later that month, Aurora heritage for leadership, tenacity and spirit was once again in the spotlight. It is fitting that we continue to honor those who have instilled a legacy of pride in their school and community,” explained Kim McCully-Mobley, co-director of the Alumni Center.
“Being a Houn’ Dawg is special. We are loyal. We are determined. We are strong,” explained Michele Parbury, chair of the All-School Reunion Committee, adding “Once A Houn’ Dawg, Always A Houn’ Dawg.”
On an added note, there will also be groundbreaking ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. on the southwest corner of the armory lawn for a new Pedestrian Pavilion being constructed in 2020 with a grant received from the Southwest Missouri Board of Realtors. All interested members of the public are invited to attend. The pavilion will be enhanced with memorial benches, additional landscaping and a veterans memorial flag pole. Labor will be provided through a series of community partnerships.