2008 SANTA PARADE
INTERESTING TIDBITS ABOUT PAST PARADES


This year's parade is the 121st Santa Parade and starts at 10:30AM on Monroe and Hancock running to Main, then to Jefferson, to Liberty, to Adams, to Hamilton, then dismounting at the riverfront. 

This is the longest continuing Santa Parade in the country.  This first parade was in 1888 and was 8 blocks long.

The start of the construction of a new bridge over the Illinois River was the reason for the celebration.  To mark the event, boats and derricks formed a parade and came down the river from Chillicothe.  The following year, the opening of that new bridge was celebrated with a procession of decorated business wagons.  In 1889, Shipper and Block, later Block and Kuhl, began a 72 year commitment as a sole sponsor of the Peoria Santa Parade.  From 1961 to 1966, Carson Pirie Scott assumed sponsorship when it occupied downtown's "Big White Store."

Santa arrived throughout the years in a variety of ways:  a horse-drawn carriage, a horse drawn sleigh, and on the Toytown Express.

South Side Bank and WMBD have been involved since 1953.