Chadron’s annual Christmas Parade of Lights, planned for next Thursday Dec 3, is being changed to a Christmas Cruise the following night from 5-7:00 PM because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
The lighting of the Chadron Community Christmas Tree at the Downtown Plaza will also be moved from Thursday to Friday and from 5:45 to 4:45 in conjunction with the Christmas Cruise.
KCSR/KBPY/Chadrad Communications owner Dennis Brown says that with the possibility of stricter Designated Health Measures coming down from Gov Pete Ricketts, there was too great a risk the Parade of Lights would be cancelled at the last minute.
Dennis says the public response was so positive to the series of Quarantine Cruises the stations put on this summer that a Christmas Cruise with participants still urged to light up their vehicles seemed like a good replacement for the parade.
As with the summer cruises, KCSR will be broadcasting special cruising music – with a Christmas flair this time – and reports during the 2 hours.
One change from the summer – the cruising music will be on only KCSR because FM 107.7 KBPY will be airing Chadron High School basketball during part of that time period.
Because there won’t be a Parade of Lights to reign over, this year’s Snow Princess contest has been cancelled.
Scottsbluff and Rapid City have both cancelled their Christmas Parades in the last week.