Haslam joins Mule Day as grand marshal

Gov. Bill Haslam will lead the 2015 Mule Day Parade as grand marshal.

The governor has been known to attend the festivities in the past, but this year, he will lead the charge in the annual equine event.

I always look forward to Mule Day, and I am incredibly honored to be this years grand marshal, Haslam said Thursday. This will be my sixth Mule Day, and it is one of my favorite Tennessee traditions.

The Knoxville native went to Emory University in 1976, where he met Crissy a Memphis woman who would later become his wife. Haslam graduated from the university with a history degree.

He and Crissy eventually married and settled in Knoxville, where the Haslam family managed a chain of gas stations. When Bill Haslam first started working for the company, the Pilot Corporation had 800 employees, which grew to more than 14,000 employees in 39 states when he left, according to his online biography.

In 2003, he became the mayor of Knoxville and was re-elected in 2007. Haslam was elected governor in 2010 and won the seat again in 2014.

For the second year, the Mule Day office has decided to choose an honorary grand marshal. This year, longtime volunteer Phil Byington was selected.

I think its quite an honor. I was really surprised when they wrote me the letter and told me about it, Byington said.

Originally from Missouri, Byington later moved to Michigan in 1943 where he raised mules. There he worked for General Motors as an industrial electrician.

He eventually stopped in Columbia in Spring 1998 after hearing about Mule Day while attending another mule-centered event. Byington found a campsite and noticed others around him still had some setting up to do. He was put to work and volunteered his experience as an electrician in helping attendees.

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Haslam joins Mule Day as grand marshal