LEBANON, Ohio – Lebanon is small rural city with a population of just 21,000. But each first Saturday in December, the population swells to about 125,000 thanks to the annual Lebanon Horse-Drawn Carriage Parade and Christmas Festival. This was the 34th year for this event.

Pat South, who was the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce president when the idea for a parade was launched in the late 1980s, said the idea was to showcase the businesses in downtown and around Lebanon.

“Our goal was to establish some holiday events in our beautiful downtown and to entertain local residents and draw from other local communities,” South said. “So, in 1988, we had kind of a trial run thinking that we liked the idea of horse-drawn carriages, and we had a small event with maybe eight horses and put together a committee, but that wasn’t the official first parade. The next year, we decided that we had hit on something with the carriages and we had our first parade. We wanted it to be all horse-drawn carriages. We didn’t want any other types of entries.”

The parade has grown from 15 carriages and roughly 15,000 spectators the first year to 60 carriages and 100,000 spectators four years later. The 34th annual event earlier this month had 71 parade entries hailing from several states and rolled down the city’s streets at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“It was an instant success,” South added.

The parade is known for featuring a wide variety of equines, from teams of draft horses to miniature ponies and donkeys, with Arabians, Hackneys, Clydesdales, Belgians, Morgans, Standardbred ex-race horses and others in the mix. Each parade featured decorated carriages. Many of the drivers are dressed in Victorian costume. Some carriages have six-horse hitches, others have four-horse hitches and many have two, three or single horses.

A new carriage this year was a Civil War Coffee Wagon, which is a replica of an 1863 coffee wagon, driven by Chaplain Alan Farley and his wife, Faith, of Re-enactor’s Missions for Jesus Christ. Two other carriages included a covered wagon and a fire pumper truck/carriage drawn by four horses, side-by-side.

One of the highlights at each parade are the nine miniature horses (each dressed as Santa’s reindeers) pulling Santa down Broadway in downtown Lebanon.

“Each and every carriage in the parade has a story. The carriage drivers really have a love for their animals and carriages, and their carriages mean a lot to them,” said Janis Baker, assistant executive administrator with the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to the parades, the city’s accompanying Christmas Festival was held, offering visits with Santa, entertainment, a live nativity scene, a food and craft fair and more. The Ohio Horseman’s Council is actively involved each year.

Each 1.4-mile parade is about an hour and travels through Lebanon’s central business district. More than 75 food vendors, crafters and artisans line the parade route. In between the parades, entertainment included live performances from local artists as well as dance teams and high school drum lines.

Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims served as the parade’s 2023 grand marshal.