Willoughby Hills recently completed the final evening of the Holiday Lights Parade, an event that has become an annual hit among city officials and residents since its beginnings. During the first week of December this year, Santa Claus and the Grinch made their way around the streets to visit resid ents. “We were thrilled with the amount of residents that came out to visit with Santa and the Grinch,” said Mayor Chris Hallum. “I know that, due to the routes, we get to some residents consistently later. We are looking at possibly reversing the routing or modifying it.” The Holiday Lights Parade started in 2020 in an effort to bring some joy during the pandemic. “It is truly a joy to see the excitement of all of the children when they see Santa,” Hallum said. “We hope everyone has a safe and blessed holiday season.” In 2021, when the parade was fairly new, a light-decorated fire truck and ambulance, along with a police car and the service department worked more than two nights with Santa to travel as many streets as they could, with the crew finishing around 11 p.m. Since, the route has been redone, making the parade over four nights and completing from about 6 to 9 p.m. each night. Road Superintendent Mark Grubiss has worked with city officials to work the route around snow plow routes as part of the parade. Aside from the route having been redesigned, Grubiss and his wife, Sandy, turned a service department plow into a “Grinchmobile,” decking it out with lights, gifts and little Cindy Lou Who’s Christmas tree from Whoville. It took Grubiss roughly four hours to create it for the parade. “I think a lot of people enjoyed it,” he previously said. “There were a lot of people outside when we drove by and we were passing out gift bags of coloring pages, and candy. I had the (Grinch) sign made by Divyne Signs. Sandi Racic (owner) is a resident in our city.” The overwhelming support from people who have stayed up and waited for the parade has been humbling, said Fire Chief Robert Gandee. Police Chief Matthew Naegele said it’s of great value when his department has the opportunity to take their time, and slowly go up and down the city streets for a lighthearted event, and have the opportunity to talk to residents. “Residents typically see a police car drive up and down their street and oftentimes that’s the most contact they’re getting with a police officer unless they’re calling us for some official reason,” Naegele said. “I was excited to do it, and I got great feedback from the officers. They were blown away by the amount of people who came down to the end of their driveways to show support.” ...read more read less