Jonesburg Christmas parade returns for 12th year

Theo Tate, Staff Writer
Posted 12/1/22

The city of Jonesburg is preparing for another big Christmas parade on Dec. 2.

The 12th Annual Lighted Christmas Parade is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church parking …

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Jonesburg Christmas parade returns for 12th year

Posted

The city of Jonesburg is preparing for another big Christmas parade on Dec. 2.

The 12th Annual Lighted Christmas Parade is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church parking lot. The event will also include appearances from Santa Claus and Nick’s Barnyard Buddies, plus the big bike giveaway.

An eight-person committee, which is led by Jonesburg Mayor Bob Sellenriek, has been preparing for the parade for weeks. The members have been making hundreds of candy bags for the children in attendance.

“It’s a constant job,” Sellenriek said. “We had a lot of people donate cash as well. They want to come forward and help out. It’s really good.”

The other committee members are Dixie, Roxanne, Steve and Heath Sellenriek, Joe and Joy Oden and Stacy Calbreath.

Anyone who wants to enter anything in the parade such as a float, car, truck, tractor or motorcycle must be ready to line up by 5 p.m. Everything must be lit up.

The parade will travel south on First Street. Then, it will turn east on Lions Street, south on Jones Street and west on Main Street before the route ends on Gladstone Avenue.

Sellenriek said last year’s parade had a big turnout.

“We had about 55 lighted floats there,” Sellenriek said. “It went really well last year. There were no problems at all.”

After the parade, all attendees will get a chance to get free food such as chili, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soda at the Jonesburg Community Building. Children will get a picture taken with Santa at the Community Building.

Nick’s Barnyard Buddies will bring back its petting zoo after the parade. The Dixon-based company has been coming to the Jonesburg parade for several years.

“It is set up at the entrance of Santa’s house,” Sellenriek said. “Little kids really like it.”

Nick Wittje started Nick’s Barnyard Buddies eight years ago to educate children about animals.

“We were looking for a different way of making a living with our animals,” Wittje said. “I always liked my animals. I wanted to share them with people and teach people a little bit about them.”

Christmas, Parade, Jonesburg

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