With temperatures in Limestone County set to hover above the 90-degree mark this week, the thought of Santa Claus and dreaming of a white Christmas is far from most folks’ minds, unless you’re Trustmark Bank President Betty Christopher.

For her, it’s never too early to start thinking about what is arguably Athens’ marquee event — the annual Christmas parade. She’s now hard at work planning the event, which regularly brings thousands of people to the sidewalks of Athens the first Thursday in December.

Christopher recently announced the theme of this year’s event would be “A Bicentennial Christmas Parade.” In previous years, the parade theme has been chosen by a local school, but Christopher said parade organizers would work with the schools on a different parade-related project.

The parade will again be sponsored by Trustmark Bank, which operates two full-service locations on North Jefferson Street and U.S. 72 and a limited-service branch on East Market Street.

Christopher is excited about the theme and all the float possibilities drawing from 200 years of inspiration.

“It may bring more people,” she said.

Parade applications will be available at full-service locations of the Trustmark Bank beginning in October.