EAST PEORIA - Central Illinois' traditional kickoff to the Christmas season steps off with the start of the 24th annual Festival of Lights parade at 5:45 p.m. Saturday along Washington Street in East Peoria. | Festival calendar

Forty floats decked out in Christmas lights will travel the three-mile parade course. Bands and Santa will be there, too.

Organizers promise this year's parade will feature "a chopper motorcycle float, a 70-foot long float of the famous Clydesdale horse team pulling a delivery wagon, the starship Enterprise illuminated with 48,000 lights and the 95-foot-long smoke-spewing China dragon."

Handicapped parking is available on Taylor Street from East Peoria Autobody to Central Junior High School and in a city lot across from Fondulac District Library downtown. Call (309) 698-4700 for more information,

From Dec. 5 through 31, most of the floats will be included in a two-mile drive-through display called Folepi's Winter Wonderland at VFW Post 2078 Park off Springfield Road in East Peoria. Times are from 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The display is closed Christmas night. Cost is $10 for cars and vans, $20 for limousines and RVs, $50 for party buses and $150 for full-size buses.

The American Bus Association has named the Festival of Lights among the Top 100 events in North America for the sixth time.

A New Year's Eve Get Lit Fun Run through the display starts at 11:50 p.m. Dec. 31. Cost is $18, including a Get Lit sweatshirt or $12 without sweatshirt. A post-race pizza party will follow. Drinks are not furnished. Call (309) 694-6710.

Other events in the Festival of Lights line-up this year include:

• The Festival of Lights Craft Show from noon-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Festival Building, 2200 E. Washington St., East Peoria. Admission is free. Fifty vendors offer Christmas decorations and ornaments, jewelry, primitives, hand embroidered and crochet selections, collector porcelain dolls, and more. Kids can take a ride on a full-size carousel. Enjoy a variety of foods and hot chocolate;

• Work off the calories at the FOLEPI River Trail Classic on Saturday on the River Trail of Illinois in East Peoria. The non-competitive two-mile walk starts at 8:30 a.m. A competitive four-mile run starts at 9 a.m. A post-race party will be held inside the Fon du Lac Park Administration Building. Call Jim McIntyre at (309) 253-2420;

• "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-6, 10-13 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 7 and 14 in the Bryon Moore Auditorium at the East Peoria Community High School, 1401 E. Washington St. Cost is $16 for adults and $6 for children. Special rates are available for groups of 20 or more. Phone (309) 694-0138, ext. 3.;

• Visit the 128-year-old Doering Homeplace at 326 Pekin Ave., East Peoria, by candlelight from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 30 or 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 7. Free.

• Take a holiday cruise on the Spirit of Peoria paddle-wheeler with entertainment by River Christmas and a homemade buffet. Times are noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13. Cost is $34 for adults, $17 for kids ages 4 to 12. Evening dinner cruises are 6 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 5-6, and 12-13. Adults are $38. Children are $19. Call (800) 676-8988 for reservations.