Organizer: Loss Of Sponsors Caused OKC's Christmas Parade Cancellation

Oklahoma City’s annual Christmas parade on the Oklahoma River is going on hiatus.  

Longtime organizer Mike McAuliffe said the lean economy locally is why.  

He said the withdrawal of two of the event’s three $25,000 sponsors prompted the cancellation.  

The parade has been a local tradition since 2004.  

“You know it’s been tough throughout this year, with everybody with all the fundraising efforts, and if you weren’t in somebody’s budget this year, most of them had to cut back anyway,” he said.

Oklahoma City’s Riverfront Development Authority had been one of the $25,000 sponsors.  

However, revenue from a sand-mining operation along the Oklahoma River recently dried up.  

The City said that was the money that was being used to help finance the parade.

“The money for the parade did not come from the city’s General Fund,” City spokeswoman Kristy Yager told News 9 Monday.