The 37th Annual Parade of Lights was a hit by all accounts. Activities got underway at 10 in the morning on Friday with vendors set up in the Chinook Senior Center and Blaine County Library. The Festival of Wreaths were on display at the First Bank of Montana for all of those wishing to participate in the Silent Auction. Santa and Mrs. Clause then made their appearance at the Blaine County Library to the thrill of parents and children alike.

The Bell Choir performed in the afternoon at the First Bank of Montana and had a large gathering in attendance to sing along with the choir. A good time was certainly had by all. Many of the local businesses uptown were filled with patrons throughout the day with many sharing some laughter and conversations over their favorite beverage. This year's parade included a large number of well thought out and designed floats. Many of which greeted onlookers with candy as they passed by, some threw popcorn balls while others sang songs.

Chinook Area Chamber of Commerce President, Danial Dahl was thrilled with how everything turned out, "The Parade of Lights was Great! We had a wonderful turn out. Our first place float was the Chinook Pharmacy, second place went to Ace Hardware and third place to Finley's Food Farm. We'd like to thank the FFA for the Color Guard and all the floats put on by the 4-H groups, FFA, Chinook PD, Chinook Lions Swim team and the families that also did floats. The Saloon won the business decoration contest, and our "Festival of Wreaths" went great!"

Dahl added that the Chamber would like to continue with the Festival of Wreaths in the future, "The Festival of Wreaths and the Silent Auction is definitely something we will be continuing to do. The vendors and Santa in the library/senior center were a big hit. Overall, we have a great community and it helped make it a great Parade of Lights.

Another huge event took place Friday night at Wallner Hall. Jeans Bakery returned for one night only and served up wonderful Cheeseburger Soup, Cream Puffs and more in an effort to raise funds for the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation. Katie Unruh was on hand to help with the setup, take orders for Christmas deliveries and offer a great array of her own baked goods. When all was said and done it can only be said that it was a huge success.

According to numbers released by the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation Jean made 176 bread bowls, 20 gallons of soup, 120 dinner rolls and 280 brownies. "We sold out of the soup and we sold around 260 total people. We also sold a lot of preorder pies, cream puffs and caramel rolls as well as the sales from those items that evening. Because Jean Kokkeler donated all of the supplies and equipment for the event, we made nearly $4,000 in the four short hours of this event," stated Foundation spokesperson Heather DePriest. "We are so beyond grateful to Jean for her very generous donation for this event, its truly unbelievable how wonderful this event was and how well attended it was."