“Breakfast with the Grand Marshal” will be a new event of the 2009 Christmas on the River (COTR) festivities, according to Donna Bishop, the committee member responsible for securing this year’s grand marshal.

“The breakfast will be held at 9 a.m. at Napoleon’s on Saturday, Dec. 5,” Bishop said. “Tickets, which will sell for $20 each, will be available at the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce beginning Nov. 4.”

Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis to the first 50 participants.

“It is important to get tickets early,” Bishop said. “Fans will not want to miss this unique opportunity to meet a famous Alabamian!”

The buffet breakfast will give fans of CBS’s “Survivor” a special time to greet James “J.T.” Thomas personally and spend time talking with the television celebrity who won “Survivor: Tocantins/The Brazilian Highlands” last May.

Alabama’s “original” Christmas on the River, the Demopolis COTR began in 1972.

Through the years, it has developed into a week-long holiday celebration that attracted 40,000 participants last year. For additional information about all COTR events, call the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce at 289-0270.