Christmas Night Parade Happens Saturday, December 9 in Lake Wales

"Toys on Parade" will dazzle children and adults alike this weekend in Lake Wales as the annual Christmas night parade steps off.

The parade happens this Saturday at 6:00 and thousands are expected to line First Street and Central Avenue along the roughly one-mile route.

The display of creative and colorfully-lighted floats and bands, along with dancers, musicians, and other examples of holiday cheer is following a new route this year due to ongoing construction on Park Avenue downtown.

The parade will line up on the campus of Polk Avenue Elementary School before heading north of First Street, then east on Central Avenue to Lakeshore Boulevard before disbanding at the foot of Park Avenue. Parade-goes typically line up an hour or more in advance, setting up lawn chairs in prime viewing spots.

The parade will be the first managed under the auspices of Rotary on the Ridge, a local service club that assumed responsibility from the Lake Wales Kiwanis Club, which had run the parade for decades. The Kiwanis Club disbanded earlier this year.

Parade organizers expects more than 50 entries in the parade, which will reach a climax when Santa Claus, expected to arrive in town that evening, will be transported atop a Lake Wales Fire Department ladder truck.