Organizers are speculating that Saturday, December 10th’s Sapulpa Chamber Christmas Parade of Lights might be the “biggest ever,” not by the number of floats, but by the sheer number of people who attended.
“We don’t have the numbers yet, but we’re hearing that this might be the most-attended parade we’ve ever had,” Michael Witten said from his platform near the end of the parade on Dewey Avenue.
Count it as yet another feather in the cap of the Route 66 Christmas Chute, which has become something of a local phenomenon.
The ‘chute has been in local and regional news media and was recently featured in Southern Living Magazine. Chute Committee members met new faces almost every night who say they’ve traveled across county and state lines to come see this new holiday attraction on Route 66.
Add to that the magic of a Parade of Lights featuring over 75 floats, and the experience elevates to an almost Disney-esque level.
The Sapulpa Christmas Parade followed the normal parade route, which meant that a lot of the attendees were in downtown Sapulpa to see the floats drive by, most merely inches from the crowd.
Spectators reported a few close calls, but nobody was hurt in this new format, thanks largely to the amount of volunteers that were recruited for crowd control. In addition to the volunteers that were on hand from the various Chute crews, an entire class of students from Central Tech’s Criminal Justice department showed up dressed in black attire and yellow vests, faithfully walking up and down Dewey Avenue, keeping the streets clear of children.
On Park Street, even the food truck operators were trying to figure out how they could take a break to watch the parade as they heard the excited cheers when floats passed by. “It sounded so great, we wanted to watch it too,” one was heard saying.
Sapulpa Chamber President Janet Birnie expressed her gratitude to everyone who was involved in helping make the parade a massive success. “Thank you all so much for helping with the parade, it was amazing!” she said.
Parade Winners
Youth
1st – Eagle Point Academy
2nd – Little People Place Learning
3rd – Oklahoma Ducks
Business
1st – Ardaugh Group
2nd – Midwest Buildings of Tulsa
3rd – Ghostbusters OKC
Non-Business
1st – First Christian Church
2nd – Youth Services of Creek County
3rd – Ladies of Liberty
