TROY, Tenn., (CNN) — Troy, Tennessee is a small town in the western part of the state. Its motto is “Nice people live here.” But one family might not agree.

Dwight Tittle works with kids of all backgrounds wanted to include a float in this year’s Christmas parade with the theme “Love is love.” Now, the town has canceled the parade. And Tittle and his family are receiving death threats.

Tittle said he has lived in Troy all his life. He’s worked with teenagers of all backgrounds, many who don’t feel like they belong. So he wanted to make them feel welcome. He and his family thought of the Love is Love float for the Troy Christmas parade. The float has some messages of support — but mostly violence.

Bombing the float, throwing jawbreakers and even tomatoes — those are some of the threats they received.His son was threatened with lynching.

“There’s no place for that anywhere, much less the town to Troy,” said City Alderman Bryant Cruce.

the City of Troy has held the parade for about 30 years. Cruce says he can only remember the parade being canceled due to weather.

But this year, the date fell at the same time as a local high school’s winter formal.

“The fire chief is working diligently to come up with some volunteers to you know maybe find a suitable date, there were some scheduling conflicts,” said Cruce.

He says the town has about a thousand people so taking the band out would cut down significantly on the experience of the parade. Tittle says he just wants the parade as usual.

“I don’t want to be the reason that all of the love and support and fun that comes out of the Christmas parade is canceled but at the same time you know I’m also like just be honest with me, if we’re the reason that you’ve decided to cancel this, tell us.”

One businessman in the town is so angry about the situation he says he’s moving his business away when his lease expires this month.

The alderman says that the float is welcome at any rescheduled parade and that the town will even provide security.