East Peoria celebrates 39 years of the Festival of Lights Parade

EAST PEORIA (25News Now) - Thousands of people braved the cold Saturday night to watch dozens of lighted floats glide down the streets of East Peoria for the annual Festival of Lights Parade.

East Peoria’s Public Relations Coordinator, Jill Peterson, says they’re excited to be doing this for the 39th year.

“We have all of our floats in [Saturday’s] parade,” Peterson said. “We wanted to bring everything out tonight just to put on the best show we possibly can for everybody.”

Including the WEEK 25 News float.

Peterson says the parade isn’t going away anytime soon.

“We now have generations who are coming to our parade,” said Peterson. “We have people who were very little children who are now volunteering for the parade or bringing their own grandchildren to the parade, so we’re excited to make this a generational festival, and we see it going on for a long time.”

Along with the 40 floats, the parade featured the Budweiser Clydesdale float, followed by the real-life Clydesdale horses and the red, white, and gold beer wagon.

The last time the Clydesdales made an appearance in the Festival of Lights Parade was in 2019.

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