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Sheets to lead Saturday’s Christmas Parade through La Follette beginning at 6pm; watch over WLAF
TOP PHOTO: Christmas Parade Grand Marshal Zach Sheets is all smiles as he accepts his plaque from Parade Chair Kelli Jo Wright at Tuesday evening’s reception held at the LaFollette Methodist Church.
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- This year’s Christmas Parade Grand Marshal designation could not have gone to a more “civic-minded and humble” individual than Zach Sheets.
Sheets was celebrated on Thursday evening with a Christmas Parade Reception held in his honor at the LaFollette Methodist Church. Guest speakers for the reception included Mike Nelson, a former co-worker and friend of Sheets, LaFollette Librarian Nancy Green and WLAF’s Jim Freeman, who all spoke about the multitude of civic contributions Sheets makes to the community.
Edward Jones Financial Advisor Zach Sheets was honored as the 2024 Christmas Parade Grand Marshal at a reception held on Thursday evening December 15 at the LaFollette Methodist Church. He is picture with his family Cora Willis King and their daughter Rachel.
Sheets moved to Campbell County 11 years ago as an Edward Jones Financial Advisor and since his arrival, he has “embraced” the community by giving back in a multitude of ways. These include holding school supply drives, Christmas drives and food and toy drives for local residents, serving on many civic boards and being an “invaluable friend to many.”
“When Zach came to LaFollette, he hit the ground running, getting involved in the many elements of community entities that he is a part of,” Freeman said, thanking Sheets for all he has done for the community and for being a friend.
Long-time parade committee member and LaFollette Librarian Nancy Green also spoke about Sheets saying, “Zach has a heart of gold.”
“He will do anything for anyone …legally. He is a really special guy; the world needs more people like that. He is always there with a word of encouragement, he’s always there with a lending ear and a shoulder to lean on. He is someone you can always count on … we made a very wise choice when we chose Zach to be our Christmas Parade Grand Marshal for 2024, there is none more deserving, and I am so honored to call him one of my very dear friends,” Green said.
“We try to choose people in the community that give back, that are very selfless, that go above and beyond and never have to be asked, and it comes so natural to Zach, so it only makes sense that he is the perfect selection to be Parade Grand Marshal this year,” said parade chair Kelli Jo Wright.
She and parade committee members presented Sheets with a plaque and shared details about his life and his many contributions to the community.
“Sheets was born in Satellite Beach, Florida to a family on the move. Because of his father’s job as a nuclear missile tech on submarines, Zach has lived in Hawaii, South Carolina, and Washington in addition to his time in Florida. This has sparked a love of travel, as Zach has currently visited 49 out of 50 states.
Sheets graduated from Olympic High school in Tracyton, Washington and went on to attend the University of Washington, Portland State, Olympic College, the American College for Financial Planning, and Purdue Global.
From 1983-2011 Sheets worked for Regal Entertainment Group as a director of operations. Then he moved to his current job in the financial industry, with Edward Jones Investments. That job would lead him to Campbell County in 2013, when he took over the local Edward Jones Investments branch office.
He is a member of the Campbell and Anderson County chamber of commerce. He is the current ambassador of the year for the Campbell County chamber.
Zach enjoys volunteer work. Especially that which serves youth and the under privileged in the area. He has served on the board of the Shepherds Home, the United Way of Anderson County, the Campbell County Christian Academy, and the Campbell County football and cheer Little League, where he’s also the announcer on game day.
He has coached youth football, youth basketball and youth baseball. He’s a TCAT advisory board member. Zach even danced with the stars to help fund the Caryville Cares Playground for special needs children in the area.
The Christmas Parade Committee presented Parade Grand Marshal Zach Sheets with a plaque on Tuesday evening at a reception held in his honor.
His enthusiasm for helping those less fortunate and his dedication to making Campbell County a better place has not gone unnoticed.”
Sheets said he was “shocked beyond belief at receiving the grand marshal designation and that it was the “greatest honor” he could ever ask for and that coming to Campbell County was a “blessing.”
“The most wonderful thing was coming up to this community … I came up here and absolutely loved it from day one. It was such a blessing and an honor, whether it was stepping into Rotary right away, stepping into the Lions Club, the different organizations in this town and meeting the people here…It’s been so wonderful to get to know the people. It’s been so much fun to be part of that great opportunity to make a difference in a community. The different organizations in this town do so much…I look around this room and there is so many wonderful people, there is just so many amazing people in this community and we’re just blessed. So, to have this honor, I couldn’t ask for a bigger honor, it’s an amazing opportunity to be recognized by so many people who do so many things in this community to try to make a difference.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-12/06/2024-6AM)