America’s Longest Running Christmas Parade is in Illinois

The longest running Christmas parade in America, is held right here in Illinois! I mean, it stops and then restarts the next year, it's not nonstop or anything... :) AmericanProfile

The state of Illinois is known for a lot of good things. The pizza thick like a cake, the baseball teams are confusing, and there's plenty of crooked politicians...Wait those aren't good things. Anyway, let's get into the holiday spirit.

November in Peoria, IL the streets of the downtown are lined with elves, reindeer, and other holiday characters! Peoria's Christmas parade is the longest running in the country, every years since 1888!

This is no, 3 floats and a congressman handing out pencils parade either. This parade is filled with Christmas goodness, and plenty of candy...the perfect kind.

Keeping a parade going this freakin' long, means that it rolled through troubling times too...The 1929 Stock Market Crash, World War II and of course, insane Illinois weather...From snow storms to rain and thunder, the parade must go on!

Even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has paused over the years, but not this one!

 “The community won’t let it go away, it gets in everyone’s blood. It’s the thing you do the day after Thanksgiving in Peoria.” - Susie Stockman/Parade Coordinator 

Obviously Santa Claus is the main attraction, and he started his appearance one year BEFORE this parade started. in 1887, he went floating past Peoria, IL on a barge. Rudolph could not be reached for comment.