The Jonesburg Lighted Christmas Parade will return for its 15th year on Friday, hoping it will have another successful showing like in 2024.

The parade will start at 6 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church parking lot. Any vehicle or floats that plan to participate in the parade must be lit up and must be entered by 5 p.m. so heavy traffic that is coming from Interstate 70 can be avoided.

The event has always been a popular holiday event in Jonesburg, which has about 720 residents.

“It seems to be getting bigger,” parade chairman and Jonesburg mayor Bob Sellenriek said. “We think the town goes to estimates of 4,000 to 6,000 people, getting people to start putting their vehicles where they want to watch the parade in the morning and afternoon long before. They just park their cars and pick up trucks there so they have some place to sit and watch it. The town is completely full of people.”

Food items such as chili, hot dogs, nachos and popcorn will be served free to patrons at the Jonesburg Community Building. There will be a bike and gift card giveaway that will be held at the end of the evening at the community building. Last year, 130 bikes and about 100 gift cards were given away after the parade.

Sellenriek said the 2024 parade was the most successful one because of the outstanding work of the floats that were entered.

“The floats have gotten better,” he said. “The people are getting more ingenious and making fancy stuff.  We had everything from religious floats to John Deere tractors to skaters who skated and were actually mannequins. There was a decorated picnic table riding through the area with everybody’s lights on. A lot of cars lit up.”

Santa Claus and his elves participate in the last float in the parade. Sellenriek said the elves visit Jonesburg Elementary School on the morning of the parade.

“They go to all of the classrooms and give the kids some candy, laugh and giggle with them,” he said.

The parade will travel south on First Street, then to East Lions Street, Jones Street, Main Street and Gladstone Avenue. The community building will open when the parade ends. Children will get an opportunity to get their picture taken for free with Santa Claus at Santa’s House, which will be located outside the community building.

The committee members of the Jonesburg Christmas Parade include the Sellenriek family of Bob, Steve, Heath, Dixie and Roxanne, Joy and Joe Oden and Stacy Calbreath.