Queen Creek chamber passes torch on holiday parade

Queen Creek’s annual holiday parade and festival is getting a new name and a new producer this year.

The Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce has hosted the Queen Creek Holiday Festival and Parade along with the Kiwanis Club of Queen Creek for the past 10 years. Starting this year, the event will be produced by the town of Queen Creek. It has also changed its name to Queen Creek Hometown Christmas.

In the decade the chamber and the Kiwanis Club ran the parade attendance nearly tripled to more than 15,000 people in 2023, according to a press release from the chamber.

“I’ve been involved with the event for the last 16 years, and I’m sad to no longer host it but I look forward to working with the town as we transition and to Queen Creek Hometown Christmas,” stated Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce, in the release.

With the town now hosting the holiday event, it has become the third signature event for Queen Creek, replacing Trunk or Treat on Halloween.

In April, Queen Creek announced it was dropping the Halloween event as it drew more than 20,000 attendees and spanned more than a quarter of a mile, thus “becoming more logistically challenging” and more expensive.

“As the Town Center continues to develop, parking options north of Ocotillo Road are becoming more and more limited. In addition, the size and scope of the event required a two-day closure of Ellsworth Road to safely set up and take down,” a press release from the town stated. “The extended closure resulted in increased traffic congestion in the heart of the community. The event itself was also becoming increasingly expensive to produce – even with scaling back activities and reducing the amount of candy, the event was projected to exceed budgetary constraints for 2024.”

The town’s two other signature events remain Founders’ Day and Spring Into QC.

Under the chamber and the Kiwanis Club, the holiday festival featured carnival rides, crafts and food vendors, children’s activities and a visit from Santa. The parade featured more than 70 local youth-based groups and businesses and ended with a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Details for this year’s Queen Creek Hometown Christmas are still in the works.