"The big change is that there is no parade route," Ammon recreation director Randal Miller told East Idaho News in November 2024. "The floats are not going to be traveling. They are all going to be stationary over at the park."
That one decision changed how Ammon does the holidays. For years, Holiday Lightapalooza was a light parade. You picked a spot along the route, watched the floats go by, and went home. Now the floats stay put in the parking lots at McCowin Park, and you walk among them. You also cast the votes that help decide who gets the prize money. The city's outdoor decorating contest runs on the same idea and brings it to your own street. The way Ammon lights up for the holidays has become something you take part in, and the first deadline is closer than most people think.
The Season Already Opened at McCowin Park
Last Saturday, Nov. 7, the City of Ammon held its fourth annual Nogathon Fun Run at McCowin Park, 3000 Southwick Lane. The city's own post called it the day "we kick off the holiday season in Ammon." The challenge was four laps on a quarter-mile course, with an 8-ounce cup of Reed's Dairy eggnog before each lap. That adds up to 32 ounces of eggnog and a full mile by the finish. Online registration was $15, and walk-up runners signed up at the swimming pool window.
The eggnog run sets up the rest of the season because of where it happened. McCowin Park is also home to Lightapalooza, which the city lists among its annual events as a "holiday light display and celebration." When the floats stopped moving, the park itself became the place to go, and that changed what a December night there looks like.
Why the Floats Parked
In 2024, Lightapalooza was in its eighth year. The change came out of meetings with the streets department and the sheriff's office. Here is how Miller explained it to East Idaho News:
"We have had some close calls here in the last few years. It's dark out there, the streets are icy and even after we discontinued throwing candy, there's still been some close calls with people almost getting hurt."
The city had already stopped float riders from throwing candy two years earlier, also for safety. That fix helped but didn't solve the problem. A moving float, a dark December evening and an icy street are a risky combination however the candy gets handed out. Parking the floats took away the one thing that caused the trouble.
What a Parked Parade Gave Back
Parking the floats brought back something the moving parade had already lost. Miller said that with the floats staying in one place, handing out candy and goodies could return. By the second year of the new format, he described the evening this way: "people can walk around all night and get up close to the floats and talk to the people (who created them). They are going to hand out candy."
Voting changed too. In 2025, the city put QR codes around the parking lots so visitors could vote for their favorite floats, and judges scored them as well. When the floats rolled past a curb, the crowd just watched. With the floats parked, the crowd helps pick the winners.
Here is how the first two years of the stationary format compared, based on East Idaho News previews of each event:
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, Dec. 7 | Saturday, Dec. 6 |
| Start | 6 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
| Santa arrives | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m., at the gazebo |
| Float prize money | $300 to $1,000 | $200 to $1,000 |
| How winners were picked | Public vote on favorites | QR-code public vote plus judges |
| Kneaders treats | Free hot chocolate and cookies while they lasted | Free chocolate chip cookies for the first 300 people |
The new format hasn't cost the event its crowd. The first stationary year, 2024, still drew a couple of thousand people, according to East Idaho News' 2025 preview. Santa's part of the night has no end time either. In 2025, Miller said Santa "will stay until he sees every child in line."
For anyone thinking about building a float, the 2024 rules give a sense of what it takes. Each float needed at least 1,500 lights, and entries were due Dec. 2 that year. Watch the City of Ammon events page for this year's float rules and date.
Parking Became the Hard Part
A parade crowd spreads out along a route. A crowd of a couple of thousand all going to one park needs somewhere to leave its cars. In 2025, Miller said parking at McCowin Park was limited, and the city set up a plan that worked like this:
- Park at Hillcrest High School, on the east side where the main office entrance is.
- Walk to the shuttle stop on Owen Street.
- Ride a free Teton Stage Lines shuttle to the park. Buses ran back and forth from 5 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
- Bring the stroller. Strollers were allowed on the bus.
Shuttles started an hour before the 6 p.m. start, and the first 300 people got Kneaders cookies. That made getting there early worth it. A DJ played all night, and several trees around the gazebo were strung with lights. If the 2026 event follows the same setup, families who park at Hillcrest and ride in early will be at the floats before the gazebo line for Santa builds up.
The Same Idea, Moved to Your Front Yard
The parked floats at McCowin Park and the city's home decorating contest work the same way. Each one asks residents to build the display and lets the community choose the winners.
On Nov. 4, the city announced the annual Ammon Outdoor Holiday Decorating Contest, presented by Kneaders Bakery and Cafe. Registration closes Nov. 23, and a round of community judging decides the People's Choice award. As of this Thursday, that gives decorators 11 days to get their homes entered.
Kneaders runs through both events. It's the named sponsor of the home contest, and it handed out the free treats at both stationary Lightapaloozas, hot chocolate and cookies in 2024 and cookies for the first 300 people in 2025.
The full contest details, including the People's Choice judging dates and how to register, are in the City of Ammon's Facebook announcement. If your lights are going up this weekend anyway, Nov. 23 is the date to put on the calendar. After that, the season moves back to McCowin Park, where you can walk right up to the floats, vote on your phone, and get candy straight from the people who built them.
If your house is the one on the block with the most lights this year, and you're also wondering how your home fits into today's Ammon market, Adam Walz would love to talk it through with you, maybe over a Kneaders cookie in December. Schedule your free consultation.
