For more than three decades, the Timber Truckers Light Parade has illuminated Main Street in John Day to the delight of residents with a dazzling display of lights and holiday cheer.

The 33rd annual Timber Truckers Light Parade was held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, with 24 parade entries from local timber and logging companies, government agencies, emergency services and merchants, with one entry from a resident, organizers said.

The parade, a Grant County Christmas season tradition since 1991, began at the Iron Triangle yard (the former Grant Western mill) off Patterson Bridge Road near the Sinclair gas station on West Main Street, rolled east through downtown, then turned left on the Third Avenue extension and looped back south on Dayton Street toward the Elks Lodge.

“The thing that kicks it in for me is when I drive into town from where they register, and I see all the cars and all the trucks lined up to watch the parade and I see the fire pits (along the route),” said Leslie Traylor, president of the Timber Truckers Light Parade Committee.

“It just overwhelms me sometimes. You know, as much work as we put into it, that makes it all worthwhile.”

Scores of parade watchers lined Main Street, some sitting around fire pits to keep warm with their families. The vehicles, some large and some small, were festooned in multicolored arrays of LED lights, with some entries including a Nativity scene and characters such as Smokey Bear and Santa Claus.

“We were maybe four short of the number we had last year, but every year (the entries) just get more and more intricate,” Traylor said. “They just go all-out. It’s just amazing.”

David Helmricks, community wildlife forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry, drove the ODF entry featuring Smokey Bear — a regular favorite of annual parades in Grant County.

“It had Smokey Bear on the back with a burn barrel,” Helmricks said. “(The Timber Truckers Light Parade) is great. It brings the community together, especially for the holidays, and it gets everybody together in one place.”

Colby Farrell, no stranger to parades in Grant County, helped open the parade. President of the Whiskey Gulch Gang, which owns Sels’ Brewery in Canyon City and sponsors that city’s ’62 Days Celebration and parade, Farrell drove the group’s historic Model A at the start of the parade. The entry was the parade’s flag-bearer, he said.

“We’d like to see more floats like we’ve had in the past, but everybody went real-all out this year, from what I could see,” Farrell said. “It looked really good from the people that did enter, so hopefully this gets a few more people out in the future.”

Vehicles competed for prizes in four categories: timber, commercial, farm and ranch, and community. The first prize in each category is $200 (plus 100 gallons of diesel fuel for the timber winner), with $100 going to the second-place winner and $50 for third place. A people’s choice award is $100 for first place and $50 for second.

Monetary awards come from the contributions of local businesses, such as NAPA Auto Parts, JD Rents & Power Equipment, Les Schwab, Nydam’s Ace Hardware and John Day True Value Hardware, among other local businesses.

A chili dinner and awards social for the participants and their families was held at the John Day Elks Lodge after the parade. Winners were announced and additional prizes handed out.

People can visit the Timber Truckers Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TTLightParade.

Parade winners

Timber

First Place: Rude Logging

Second Place: Dakom Logging

Third Place: Morris Forestry

Commercial

First Place: Hodgen Distributing

Second Place: Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative

Third Place: Blue Mountain Hospital

Farm and Ranch

First Place: Jeremy Findley Trucking

Community

First Place: Grant Union School District

Second Place: Madden Realty

Third Place: City of John Day

People’s Choice

First Place: Dakom Logging

Second Place: Rude Logging

Sweepstakes

Winner: Rude Logging