{"id":15650,"date":"2025-11-17T16:26:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T23:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-to-march-down-main-on-dec-6\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:49:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:49:37","slug":"parade-of-lights-to-march-down-main-on-dec-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parade-of-lights-to-march-down-main-on-dec-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Parade of Lights to march down Main on Dec. 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=79bba426-08fe-5fb0-839d-d2dd7c5e69a8&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" alt=\"Cortez Parade of Lights 2024. (Matthew Tangeman\/Special to the Journal)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Cortez Parade of Lights 2024. (Matthew Tangeman\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Parade of Lights will march down Main Street in Cortez on Dec. 6 for its 36th year, bringing holiday spirit to town.<\/p>\n<p>The parade, starting at 6 p.m., is hosted by the Four Corners Board of Realtors. This year\u2019s Grand Marshal is the Cortez Elks Lodge 1789. The theme is \u201cThe Blessings of a Community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe try to choose our Grand Marshal, then whoever the Grand Marshal is we choose as a theme on that,\u201d said Michelle Morris, a longtime organizer with the Four Corners Board of Realtors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the Elks Lodge has helped the community out for a long time, therein lies the title of the theme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mail or drop off an entry form at RE\/MAX Mesa Verde Realty, 1640 E. Main St., Cortez, CO 81328. Email an entry form to <a href=\"mailto:fcborparadeoflights@gmail.com\">fcborparadeoflights@gmail.com<\/a>. Download an entry form at <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4ParadeofLights\" id=\"link-49f460251d3fdec1f3c35bc40ffe3af9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bit.ly\/4ParadeofLights<\/a> or call (970) 739-3714 for information.<\/p>\n<p>Categories include nonprofit, commercial and other, each judged on music, lights, creativity, theme and workmanship, said Trista Heaton, Parade of Lights chairperson.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-pdf-embed\"><iframe class=\"article-pdf\" src=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/0qoviirGYqpWSAiQJf9mDXYyONY.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:500px;border:1px solid #ddd\" loading=\"lazy\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/0qoviirGYqpWSAiQJf9mDXYyONY.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025-Parade-Application-FOUR-CORNERS-BOARD-OF-REALTORS\u00ae-36th-ANNUAL-PARADE-OF-LIGHTS.pdf (Download PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"naviga-pdf-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/0qoviirGYqpWSAiQJf9mDXYyONY.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025-Parade-Application-FOUR-CORNERS-BOARD-OF-REALTORS\u00ae-36th-ANNUAL-PARADE-OF-LIGHTS.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But judges ultimately choose what stands out, Heaton said.<\/p>\n<p>Each float will display a QR code for the People\u2019s Choice Award. This year also adds a best band category.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFloat,\u201d however, is loosely defined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want the community involved,\u201d said Heaton. \u201cSo, however they want to do it, whether they\u2019re marching, riding a horse, riding a motorcycle, a side-by-side or a tractor. However they want to enter, we allow it as long as it\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Contestants can win cash prizes.<\/p>\n<p>The parade runs west to east from Notah Dineh Trading Co. at Maple and Main streets to Harrison Street by City Market.<\/p>\n<p>Morris said entries usually total about 60, with one year topping 80.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost anything to enter the parade,\u201d said Morris. \u201cYou can pick up an entry form at any real estate office in town or visit the Four Corners Board of Realtors website.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Santa will make a grand entrance at the west end of Main Street.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSanta will be arriving by helicopter,\u201d said Morris.<\/p>\n<p>While an exact count is hard to pin down, the parade is expected to draw thousands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have people that participate from all over the reservation, to Dove Creek, to Dolores and Mancos. We have people from all over that come to the parade and participate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>include people\u2019s choice award and best band category<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15650"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21146,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15650\/revisions\/21146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15650"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}