HOLTS SUMMIT - City officials hope Holts Summit's revamped Christmas celebration will prove safer and more fun than ever.
The parade will start at 4 p.m. Saturday on South Summit Drive across from North Elementary School, head north to West Simon Boulevard, hang a left, then make another left south onto South Greenway Drive.
This year's theme is "Nightmare Before Christmas" and nearly 50 floats have signed up to participate.
"It's not that much shorter - I drove it, and it's about .06 (miles) shorter," Holts Summit Mayor Landon Oxley said.
This route passes along more sidewalks and past more parking lots than in previous years, Oxley added.
"Plus, we're not closing down as many streets as we used to," he said during Tuesday's Board of Aldermen meeting. "MoDOT doesn't like it when we shut down the exit ramps."
Previous routes required shutting down the U.S. 54 exit ramp at Center Street. That route also traveled farther along South Summit Drive, a residential street with no sidewalks and few places to park.
This year, parade-goers will be able to park at North Elementary School, the Holts Summit Police Department, Holts Summit City Hall, Break Time, Casey's and the Summit Plaza. People who live along Spalding Road should be able to see the parade from their backyards.
Aldermen said they had received complaints via social media about the new route. Primarily, protests have come from people who live along the former route, they said.
"I think some people have stood in their front yards for many years," Ward 1 alderman Sharon Schlueter said, adding she's sympathetic to those whose longstanding traditions have been disrupted.
The route isn't the only change. For the first time, the city is tying together the parade and the tree lighting.
Following the 5-6 p.m. parade, there will be a family-friendly festival at Summit Plaza with crafts, music and a coloring contest. The top two artists, one boy and one girl, will be awarded a new bike. Families can take a selfie with Santa, hang an ornament on the municipal tree, sip hot chocolate, enjoy songs from the North School Notables, try "turkey bowling" and more.
The tree will twinkle on at 6 p.m. Following the lighting, folks are welcome to linger until 7 p.m. to participate in more games.
"All of this is in the plaza, so it's easy to walk there," Ward 2 alderman Chris Redel said.
Oxley encouraged families and locals to come out and be merry.
"And if (the new route) doesn't work, we can change it next year," he said.