Summertime may be high season for daytime parades in Iowa, but with sunsets trending earlier and earlier, communities around the state are hosting nighttime parades to celebrate this winter holiday season.
There are parades tonight in Creston, Decorah and Mount Pleasant. On Saturday, Atlantic and Oskaloosa are having Lighted Christmas Parades. Amy Brainard, director of Oskaloosa Main Street, says this is the 35th year for Oskaloosa’s parade.
“We have over 60 entries. All of our entries will be lighted and a dozen of those are actually new,” she says. “They’ve never been in the parade before, so it’s really exciting to see the parade growing.”
It’s not just the floats that will be illuminated on Saturday night, as 300,000 LED bulbs have been strung around the city square in Oskaloosa and images will appear on the buildings.
“Downtown becomes Oskaloosa’s Christmas canvas,” she says, “so they use the buildings to paint with lights.”
Lighted parades are also being held Saturday in Bondurant, Coon Rapids, DeWitt and Janesville.
(By Sam Parsons, KBOE, Oskaloosa)