Santa Claus, Joliet city officials spread holiday cheer with small parade

Santa Claus rode throughout Joliet on Saturday to greet residents for the third annual Santa Send-Off.

A motorcade featuring Santa began Saturday morning at Woodruff and Draper avenues on the city’s east side and traveled all the way to Ridge and Caton Farm roads on the city’s far west side.

Many residents came out of their homes to greet Santa, who rode in a red vehicle with several city officials, including Mayor Bob O’Dekirk.

Police cars and other city vehicles were part of the parade, as well.

Live location updates were provided through the city’s Facebook page and Twitter account, @TheCityofJoliet. The city also provided a full map of the parade route on its website and Google maps.

Residents also could listen to a Santa Send-Off-themed program during the parade by tuning to radio station WCSF 88.7 FM.

Santa Send-Off was first done in 2020 as a substitute for the Light Up the Holidays parade that had been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic

The popularity of the event led the city to continue to run the parade each year since.