Pueblo's Parade of Lights Has Run for More Than 30 Years. No One Source Agrees on the First One.
The parade's own site says it has run “over 30 years.” Published annual counts from 2018 to 2025 do not line up, so the founding year stays uncertain.
The Pueblo Parade of Lights is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the parade’s website says it has run “over 30 years.” As of October 17, that site lists the next parade for November 28, 2026, with the theme “Celebrating Heroes for the Holidays.”
The site says the Pueblo Downtown Association produces the parade. It describes the route as starting at Mesa Junction, running down Union Avenue to Main Street, then west to a finish at 6th and Court. The page does not give a start time. This article does not list one for 2026.
What past listings say
The City of Pueblo’s calendar listing for Saturday, November 30, 2019, calls it the “30th Annual” parade, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Abriendo and Union Avenues. The theme was “Christmas at the Movies!” The listing names no organizer.
A KOAA report on the 2022 parade gives the theme as “Holidays in the Steel City.” It says floats, school marching bands, drill teams, saddle club horses and car club vehicles took part, all decorated with lights, and that “thousands were in attendance.” KOAA did not give a crowd count.
The City’s calendar listing for Saturday, November 29, 2025, calls it the “35th Annual” parade. It lists the Pueblo Downtown Association as organizer, a 5:30 p.m. start, and the theme “Holidays Past, Present, Future.”
The numbers do not agree
A 2018 KOAA preview called the November 24, 2018, parade the “29th annual,” with the theme “Caroling in the City.” If that is right, the 2019 parade was the 30th, which matches the City’s 2019 listing. Counting forward, 2025 would be the 36th, not the 35th.
A second KOAA article, for a parade on Saturday, November 25, adds to the puzzle. It carries a photo caption reading “30th Annual Parade of Lights” and text saying the parade has run “for the past 33 years.” The page did not display a year when we read it. November 25 was the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2023, so that is the likely year, but that is our inference.
Taken together, the published counts point to a first parade around 1989, 1990 or 1991. They do not establish which. The record does not explain the gaps. A skipped year, a carried-over caption or a different counting method are all possible, and none is documented.
What we don’t know
- The year of the first parade, and who organized it.
- Whether any year was skipped or counted twice.
- The 2026 start time and any route changes. Only the parade site’s date, theme and route description were checked.
- An actual attendance figure. The sources say “thousands” and “many thousands.”
Back issues of the Pueblo Chieftain or Downtown Association records from the early 1990s would likely settle the first year. We did not find them online.