The 40th Annual East Peoria Festival of Lights is a holiday tradition now spanning generations of families. The lighted floats are creations of art, earning accolades statewide and garnering national attention. But they looked quite different 40 years ago when the Festival of Lights first started, envisioned as a one-time event.

The first Parade of Lights was very grand for its time. There had never been a nighttime parade in Central Illinois. The floats in the 1984 parade were constructed mostly of wood, wrapped with chicken wire, and covered with spray foam. Volunteers then added lights so the floats could be seen at night. There were 19 floats in that first parade, seven large ones designed to represent popular Christmas carols, and 12 smaller floats along with walking costumed characters, scouting and school groups, and business vehicles.

Starting with the third parade in 1987, the illusion came from the lights themselves forming the image. That was the first time pencil steel was used to create a float—the Paddle-wheeler which is still in the parade today. Also notable, the Paddle-wheeler is the first large float to be attached to a vehicle underneath it. This created the illusion at night that the Paddle-wheeler was moving along the parade route under its own power. Organizers knew they had something that had never been seen in Central Illinois.

The fleet of floats grew from there. Some floats were retired, and new ones added, created by a volunteer group that became known as the Folepi Construction Crew and headed for many years by Wally Jaquet. The parade transformed from daytime entries lit for night to the elaborate creations seen today, with an average of 30 floats appearing annually. Lighting technology has greatly improved over the years, and in 2009 Festival organizers began changing the incandescent mini lights on the floats to more efficient and brighter LED lights. This was no easy feat, as volunteers had to strip the floats of their old lights, attach new LED light strings, and then hand-clip each light to the float. Today, lights are still attached by hand as there is no machine that can do that task.

By 2010 many of the vehicles underneath the floats had reached the end of their lifespan. These were used cars to begin with, some dating back to the 1970s, and no amount of tweaking and tinkering with the engines and mechanical parts could ensure they would get all the way down the parade route. Knowing that the lighted floats are the stars of the show, organizers began a multi-year task of removing the vehicles and making all floats towable. This decision also helped ensure few to no float breakdowns along the parade route.

One constant in the Parade of Lights is the mascot Folepi. The parade has always been led by the live toy soldier, first portrayed by Frank Borror. Several men have had the honor of being Folepi during the past 40 years, with the longest serving being A.J. Boore from 1994 to 2012. Our current Folepi, Tim Cundiff, has had the honor for five years, starting in 2019.

The Parade of Lights is not the only event that has evolved over time. The Festival’s Folepi’s Winter Wonderland drive-through display began in 1993, always located in VFW Post 2078 Park. The first display featured 15 parade floats, lighted arches, decorated trees and shrubs, and some purchased displays. The remainder of the parade floats were displayed, as they had been in prior years, in the parking lot of the Fon du Lac Park Administration Building and along the Farm Creek levee. A desire to protect the floats from potential vandals resulted in the eventual move of all floats to the drive-through display in the park.

With the conversion to using all LED lights, the Winter Wonderland’s electricity bill has decreased greatly. The bill was $80,000 when the festival displays were illuminated with incandescent light bulbs. With the switch to energy-efficient LED lights, the electricity bill dropped to approximately $5,000, and more power efficiencies are expected from a project in 2019 when the display was rewired and new spider boxes were added.

The Festival Wreath has also evolved during the past 40 years. The original wreath, used for 29 years, was a Ferris wheel that traveled on the carnival circuit. It was illuminated with colored fluorescent light tubes around the frame and a fluorescent light tube candle in the middle. A new wreath was unveiled for the festival’s 30th anniversary in 2014, illuminated with energy efficient LED lights on a metal frame attached to a trailer for easy transport to the display location on a bluff overlooking the city on Fondulac Drive. The Wreath has been in the same location for 39 of the festival’s 40 years. In 2007, organizers moved the Wreath to East Peoria’s RiverFront Park. However, residents and visitors preferred the traditional location, and the Wreath returned to its familiar perch in 2008.

Another display that has been a constant bright light is the Henricks Star that shines over the city from a bluff in VFW Park. The original star was made of wood and illuminated with fluorescent light tubes and named for festival volunteer Andrew Henricks. The Henricks’ adult children wanted to honor the volunteerism of both their father and mother Cecelia and spearheaded a donation campaign to fund the construction of a new star in their memory. Donations completely funded the construction, and the new aluminum Henricks Star debuted in December 2017. The 24-foot diameter star is illuminated with LED lights, and as son Alan Henricks said, “It is high and bright to inspire people.”  

The East Peoria Festival of Lights couldn’t have happened over the past 40 years without volunteer support, from building and lighting floats to walking as guides in the Parade of Lights and organizing the many individual events that occur during the festival’s annual holiday run. There has always been a chairman to keep things moving smoothly, and the Festival of Lights has benefitted from the leadership of the four chairmen in FOLEPI’s 40-year history:  Maurice Joseph, Dan Cunningham, Doug McCarty, and current chairman Kory Brown.

At first conceived as a one-time event, the East Peoria Festival of Lights has evolved and grown, embracing new technologies and adding activities to bring holiday cheer to all who visit. It’s an award-winning festival, having received the Illinois Governor’s Home Town Awards in 1987 and 2005; being named one of the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association in 1993, 2004, 2005, and 2007; and most recently winning the Heavyweights division on Season eight of ABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight in 2020. 

Organizers and volunteers are excited to present the 40th annual festival and invite everyone to visit the East Peoria Festival of Lights.