By: Ryan Duey

The City of Barnes annual Lighted Horse Parade is set for Saturday, November 30th. This year’s parade will start at 6:30 p.m. Festivities will kickoff at 4:00 p.m. with a soup supper at the Firehouse, Santa will be at the Hometown Café, Luke Bott will be providing free carriage rides, and Coffee Crossing from Waterville will be serving hot chocolate, coffee, and lattes at the Café.

The Lighted Horse Parade began over 20 years ago, with just a few horses. Idana Perkins with Barnes Community Development talked about the first year of the Horse Parade.

“The first year there were either 5 or 6 riders and we were thrilled. I remember when people started pulling into park, it was amazing that somebody was coming to see a Lighted Horse Parade. And in order to make the parade last a little longer, it was deemed that they would just turn around and go back up the street so that way the five riders had double coverage. And my how it has changed in that time period.”

This year’s Lighted Horse Parade will be dedicated to a local family who have tragically lost family members recently. Deb Kruse, co-organizer of the Parade, talked about the family.

“This year for the parade, we are doing a special dedication for Emma and Joe Brungardt, the Brungardt family here in our area. Emma was a part of our parade. She was a Rodeo Queen and a rider. Unfortunately for this family, they lost Joe a few years back. And Emma was in a tragic car accident, where she lost her life, just a couple of months ago. So, we are dedicating this year’s parade to Emma and Joe and their family.”

Attendees will have different opportunities to support the Brungardt family including: cinnamon rolls being sold during the soup supper and Coffee Crossing having a special latte available to purchase, with proceeds from these sales going to the family.

Join the City of Barnes for this year’s special Lighted Horse Parade to kick off the Holiday Season. For more information on the Parade contact Deb Kruse at Union State Bank.