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One of the premier events at the Morton Pumpkin Festival is the Morton Pumpkin Festival Parade. Held Saturday morning at 10:30 am along Jefferson Street, the parade boasts over 100 entries including floats, marching bands, antique vehicles, and popular children’s characters.
The parade route will again feature our Parade Donut Stands. Stop by these bright blue Pepsi concession trailers, located in key spots along Jefferson Street, for pumpkin donuts, coffee, milk, and cold beverages. Hosted by MYBA (Morton Youth Baseball Association) these stands are the perfect way to enjoy a taste of the Morton Pumpkin Festival while also supporting a local non-profit organization. MYBA will also be selling pumpkin donuts from golf carts along the parade route!
Don’t forget to bring a bag to collect candy and toys, handed out by many of our Festival entries, and please wear ORANGE to the parade to show your pumpkin spirit!
We can’t wait to see you at the Morton Pumpkin Festival Parade! If you can’t join us in person, watch the parade streaming live from your home or office at www.mortonpumpkinfestival.org
The parade line-up will be released early September.
Parade entries must be decorated to the 2023 Festival theme — “Farmin’ Pumpkins”
No weapons or items resembling a weapon. If you are in doubt about whether something is a weapon or resembles a weapon, please do not bring it to the parade. If you bring such items, you will be kindly asked to put the items away during the parade.
Float entries must be on a hayrack or flatbed trailer. Maximum height of floats is 13 feet, 9 inches in order to clear electrical lines.
All walkers must be 8 years old or older. Younger children can safely ride on floats or be pushed/pulled in strollers or wagons accompanied by an adult. For safety, please make sure walkers stay a safe distance from vehicles and floats at all times.
Entries must keep their unit moving along the parade route and must keep a distance of no more than 30 feet between their unit and the entry in front of them.
No literature may be distributed.
No confetti or streamers may be thrown. Candy or toys may be distributed as follows:
Antique and custom vehicles may enter individually or as part of a group with a limit of 5 vehicles for any one group. Antique tractors pulling a float will be counted as part of the float entry.
Marching/Walking units are limited to:
Semi units are not permitted in the parade.
Animal units are required to have their own cleanup system and/or crew.
Commercial Vehicles may enter the parade if they are:
Area politicians may enter as a separate unit or may ride on the float/entry for their party. This includes State Senators, State Representatives, Judges, Regional/County offices, and local offices.
No inflammatory, negative, or profane language, messaging, or music
No scary costumes or haunted house related entries
No flips, back-hand-springs, or acrobatics of any kind
No provocative clothing, displays, signage, or music
Do not leave any personal items in Lincoln School’s bathrooms at the beginning of the Parade route. The schools will be locked up as soon as the parade finishes stepping off.
Parade officials reserve the right to restrict, limit, or reject (at any time including during the parade) any entry that in the sole determination of parade officials is inflammatory, controversial, and/or upsetting, or does not abide by the rules and regulations.
Parade officials will welcome and visit with parade entries and their Parade Unit On-Site Contacts during the staging of the parade in order to promote compliance with these rules and regulations. We please ask for your cooperation in making the parade enjoyable for all concerned
Parade Route
Sponsored by:
Donut Stands hosted by:
Grand Prize Winner: Girl Scout Troop 4967
Commercial 1st Place: Morton Buildings
Commercial 2nd Place: Better Banks
Commercial 3rd Place: Springfield Clinic
Non-Commercial 1st Place: Bethel Lutheran
Non-Commercial 2nd Place: Eastside Bible Church
Non-Commercial 3rd Place: Blessed Sacrament
| Number | Name of Organization or Business |
| 1 | Chief of Police |
| 2 | American Legion |
| 3 | Fire Department |
| 4 | Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office |
| 5 | Troop 178 & 1178, Scouts BSA |
| 6 | 2022 Parade Marshal |
| 7 | MHS Marching Band |
| 8 | Morton High School Dance Team |
| 9 | Morton High School Cheer |
| 10 | Libby |
| 11 | Mayor Kaufman |
| 12 | Pumpkin Princess Carriage |
| 13 | Precious Baby Contest |
| 14 | Pumpkin Weigh Off – Nestle |
| 15 | Pumpkin Idol Jr. Winner |
| 16 | Hackman Dancers |
| 17 | Morton High School Class of 1987 |
| 18 | Morton Jr. High School Band |
| 19 | Morton Junior High Dance Team |
| 20 | Morton Jr High Cheer |
| 21 | Morton Redwings |
| 22 | Tazewell County Fair |
| 23 | Morton Community Bank |
| 24 | WOOF Therapy Dogs |
| 25 | Elevate Church |
| 26 | Super Suds Laundry |
| 27 | Reflections Memory Care |
| 28 | Solid Rock Christian Academy |
| 29 | Re/Max Traders Unlimited |
| 30 | Morton United Futbol Club |
| 31 | Smalltown Dental |
| 32 | Celtic Cross Pipes & Drums |
| 33 | CIRT, Central Illinois Riding Therapy |
| 34 | Cub Scout Pack 85 |
| 35 | Bethel Lutheran School |
| 36 | The Center for Youth and Family Solutions |
| 37 | Girl Scout troop 4969 |
| 38 | Kevin Johnson for Tazewell Co. States Attorney |
| 39 | Darren Bailey for Governor |
| 40 | Tazewell County GOP |
| 41 | Chick-fil-a |
| 42 | Heroes Inc |
| 43 | Keller Williams Premier Realty |
| 45 | Morton High School Volleyball |
| 46 | Fliginger’s Outdoor Power Center |
| 47 | Washington Central Intermediate School Marching Band |
| 48 | Ackerman Family Farms |
| 49 | Parkin Farms – Farmall Family Farms |
| 50 | Tender Care Animal Hospital |
| 51 | Oasis Church |
| 52 | Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group |
| 53 | Cadence Academy Preschool |
| 54 | Morton High School Gameball Run |
| 55 | Tazewell County Democrats of IL |
| 56 | Trail Life Troop IL – 0316 |
| 57 | American Heritage Girls |
| 58 | Star Wars Costuming Groups |
| 59 | Condcordia Lutheran |
| 60 | SouthStream Classic Cars |
| 61 | Sandridge Food Corporation |
| 62 | 104.9 The Wolf |
| 63 | Tazewell Floor Covering |
| 64 | Blessed Sacrament School |
| 65 | Morton Antique Tractor Club |
| 66 | Big Cats and St. Pats Junior High Marching Band |
| 67 | Unity Point Clinic Morton -Express, Family & Pediatrics |
| 68 | WBNH 88.5 FM Good News Radio |
| 69 | Girl Scouts Service Unit 36 |
| 70 | Mike Murphy Ford |
| 71 | Morton Buildings |
| 72 | Desi Anderson for State Senate |
| 73 | Blue Jays Learning Center |
| 74 | Potter’s Alley |
| 75 | Yordy Turkey Farm |
| 76 | Keller Williams Revolution |
| 77 | Midwest Food Bank |
| 78 | Captivation Dance, LLC |
| 79 | OSF Morton Pediatrics |
| 80 | Better Banks |
| 81 | Peoria Brick Company |
| 82 | Morton Industries |
| 83 | Two Men and a Truck |
| 84 | Leaves n Beans |
| 85 | Precision Planting |
| 86 | Roanoke-Benson High School Marching Band |
| 87 | Caterpillar Morton Distribution Center |
| 88 | Peoria Prowlers Roller Derby |
| 89 | Nutrien Ag Solutions |
| 90 | MIX 106.9 |
| 91 | Springfield Clinic |
| 92 | ReCenter – EXP Realty |
| 93 | Gabe Casey |
| 94 | Elevate Trampoline Park |
| 95 | WCIC |
| 96 | BTD Manufacturing |
| 97 | Winkel Lawn Care, Inc |
| 98 | KZ 102.3 |
| 99 | Kennel Lake Sportsmen’s Club |
| 100 | CASE IH (CNH Industrial) |
| 101 | Eastside Bible Church |
| 102 | Veterans Group |
What is a Reverse Parade?
To showcase our community’s creativity and celebrate our local businesses and organizations, Roaring Pumpkins and All That Jazz will host a Reverse Parade this year. This year, instead of having our floats travel down the parade route, parade attendees will drive along a lineup of stationery parade floats at the Morton VFW Post 5921, 2310 Veterans Rd.
This will be a float-only parade. All floats will be asked to be decorated and/or constructed to the Roaring Pumpkins and All That Jazz theme. Groups that normally participate in the parade but do not have a float (marching bands, walking groups, etc.) will have the option of submitting a 30-second video that will be compiled with other entries and shared on the Festival Facebook and YouTube pages. Marching bands can submit a song up to 2-minutes.
Float entries will be asked to park their float in place by 8:30 AM on Saturday, September 19 before the parade attendees arrive. Each entry may only request a single space that is 25 ft. The float will remain in this spot until 2:30 PM, after the last car finishes the route (last car will be admitted at 2:00 PM).
For the safety of our float entries, volunteers, and attendees, float entries are encouraged to drop off their floats and return to pick them up after 2:30pm.
Floats will not be permitted to pass out anything during the Reverse Parade, but may submit heat resistant candy or other handout items to be added to a family goodie bag that will be handed out to the first 50 cars that arrive each hour (10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm)
*Due to being limited to a certain amount of space, there will only be 30 floats in this year’s parade.*
Entries that wish to be judged will compete for the $250 Grand Prize and $100 for Best Commercial and $100 Non-Commercial Entry.
Thank you to our sponsor:
