Downtown Petoskey to 'Light up the Night' with holiday parade
PETOSKEY — Downtown Petoskey, alongside the help of the Sunrise Rotary, will soon be celebrating and kicking off the holiday season with a return to its "Light up the North" holiday parade.
The annual holiday parade has been a longstanding tradition and, with last year's pandemic induced cancellation, organizers are more than excited to be bringing it back bigger than before this year.
"I'm thrilled we are able to be having this parade again," said downtown director Becky Goodman. "I'm so thrilled the Sunrise Rotary stepped up to help this year so we can all celebrate the holiday season again together."
This year the parade is actually becoming more of an evening event with the help of the Sunrise Rotary and some of the things the organization has included to expand the holiday celebrations.
Petoskey's Pennsylvania Park will host a new "Gingerbread Lane" from 5-6 p.m. before the parade with a slew of family-friendly activities.
There will be cookies, cookie decorating, carols with the Northern Michigan Chorale, a photo area and a special mailbox that kids will be able to use to send their letters to Santa. However, it is asked that kids that write to Santa provide a return address so he can of course write back.
Families are also encouraged to bring unwrapped gifts to donate to Toys for Tots hosted by the U.S. Marine Corps to help families and children in need this holiday season.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing Santa in the parade of course and hope that families and our community can enjoy some time together — especially this year with the new additions," said Sunrise Rotary member and parade event co-chair Matt Hausler.
The only real change — besides the additions — to the parade this year is that Santa will be in the parade, however, he won't be at Stafford's Perry Hotel for a meet and greet with kids. Organizers said Santa can't risk getting sick or getting COVID-19 before Christmas!
The parade will kick off at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 27 and will make its way through its traditional route, starting by the Petoskey High School and making its way through downtown on Mitchell Street.
Floats, trucks, cars, walkers and the Petoskey High School Marching and Steel Drum bands will "light up the night" with their glowing floats as they parade through downtown kicking off the holiday season.
"We are really thrilled to be hosting this again after last year's cancellation and to be helping put it on," said Hausler. "We felt that because it was a longstanding tradition it was important to bring back so families could get out and enjoy the holidays together."
More information on the upcoming holiday parade can be found online on the Downtown Petoskey website at www.petoskeydowntown.com.
Contact reporter Sean Miller at smiller@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @seanmillerpnr, and Instagram, @sean_everest.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Downtown Petoskey to 'Light up the Night' with holiday parade
