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Myrtle Creek Winter Festival and Timber Truckers Light Parade
The Annual Timber Truckers Light Parade is held in conjunction with the Myrtle Creek Winter Festival. This is an exciting and fun-filled event that is enjoyed by hundreds of spectators who huddle around brightly burning bonfires all along the parade route anxiously awaiting the arrival of the lighted trucks.
The Myrtle Creek Winter Festival is co-sponsored by the Myrtle Creek~Tri City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. It is held each year on the second Saturday of December, in conjunction with the Timber Trucker's Light Parade. The Winter Festival brings hundreds of people to downtown Myrtle Creek to enjoy free chili, hot cider and coffee. Visitors can also enjoy the City Christmas tree and a live Nativity scene and can shop at businesses that stay open late during this community event. When the parade vehicles arrive, they park along Main Street and some side streets where visitors can view them up close, take photographs, and chat with the drivers. The evening ends with the award of cash prizes in six categories and for "Best of Show".
The first Timber Trucker's Light Parade took place in 1993 in John Day, OR to acknowledge the timber industry, its' employees and their families and their contributions to Oregon, and to celebrate the Christmas holiday season. The first parade was the idea of Donald R.(D.R.)Johnson, who then operated several lumber mills in the John Day area. When D.R. re-located his base of operations to Riddle (about 2 miles south of Tri City) he was motivated to continue the parade to demonstrate family pride and community involvement.
Over the years, as many as 15,000 people (by local estimates) have lined the 5-mile route to see the parade. Some trucks have displayed as many as 40-50,000 {that's "thousand"} lights on a single truck. There have been as many as 70 trucks in a single parade, which takes about 90 minutes to proceed from the starting point in Riddle to downtown Myrtle Creek. It is common to see many bonfires burning along the parade route with people cheering on the drivers, who throw candy and trinkets to the crowd.
Entries are judged in Riddle prior to leaving the D.R. Johnson lumberyard and prizes in several categories, plus Best of Show, are awarded in Myrtle Creek. Total prizes and cash awards exceed $3,500.00 each year. Both Riddle and Myrtle Creek celebrate the parade by offering free coffee, hot cider, chili and entertainment.
And if that's not enough to motivate drivers to pre-register, there is NO entry fee! Further, not just 'trucks' can enter. Any street-legal motorized vehicle may enter the parade as long it displays at least one string of working holiday lights, which includes passenger vehicles, RV's, motorcycles, etc.
The Timber Trucker's Light Parade is held each year on the second Saturday of December. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. For more information, or to pre-register, call D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. at 541-874-2231.
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