Successful Week Of Events Highlights Oskaloosa
Members of the Oskaloosa High School Chamber Choir sing for this years style show, held at The Peppertree
Oskaloosa, Iowa – There are times that the weather seems more like Christmas than others recently, but the Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Group once again put the spotlight on Oskaloosa, it’s residents and its business community.
The 25th annual Lighted Christmas Parade drew a large crowd. No one has a count on the total visitors to the parade, but Chamber Events Coordinator Karen Hafner said, “Everyone said it was huge [crowd], but I don’t walk the whole thing, so I don’t really know.”
Karen said that during all her time of organizing the parade, this one took the longest to complete. “Usually, I look up and it’s probably 7:50 pm, 7:45 some times, and it was 8:10 the last time I looked up and we had two floats left.”
This year was different than in recent years, but carries the tradition of how the parade originally started. Hafner explained why the parade was once again made a single night event. “Because, 20 some years ago, it was the only lighted Christmas parade in the state. So people would come from everywhere and bring their floats. Well now those people have their own lighted Christmas parades.”
Hafner said that when there was 120 floats, they would split the parade up into two nights, “because it was way too long to stand, so they went to two nights.” Even as the amount of entries declined, the hope was that having the parade two nights would help to bring in more shoppers and visitors to the community. “In the last couple of years, we’ve had a lot of people who do the floats say, this is just too much to do for two nights.” So, with fewer entries being able to make it on the Friday night edition of the parade, for various reasons, the Chamber made the decision to make the change.
The Chamber then developed the tree lighting ceremony to replace the lost night. The winners of the parade are announced, and the large tree is brought to life on the city square.
There was live entertainment by Nashville recording artist Kassie Miller, performed from the bandstand. Visitors to the square were surrounded by the floats, shining and parked for visitors to gaze at once again. “It’s kind of like being able to have my own parade at my own pace,” one resident said.
These were just some of the highlights of a week filled with activities. The Young Ambassadors, the style show. The style show moved to the Peppertree on the north side of Oskaloosa. A change in venue from years past.
“I like change, I just think change is good,” Hafner said of the venue change, among the other changes, for this Christmas kick off weekend in Oskaloosa.
