A mere half hour before Saturday night’s Parade of Lights, Pioneer Connect’s crew was still making its final adjustments to a North Pole village float they hoped would impress.
Mayor Christopher McMorran took notice.
Gallery: Philomath Parade of Lights (Dec. 20, 2025)
A collection of photos from the Philomath Parade of Lights on Saturday.
The telecommunications company’s elaborate display earned them the Mayor’s Most Lit Float Award in its first-ever parade appearance, capping off a whirlwind build that represented weeks of effort squeezed between work schedules.
“We started planning about the beginning of November,” Pioneer Connect’s Chris Partridge said. “In between work schedules and stuff, we spent about two weeks putting the float together and building it and we finished about a half-hour before the parade.”
The idea came from Pioneer’s construction crew, who saw the parade as a chance to connect with a community they serve every day.
“We want to get out there in the community a little bit more and show them that we want to be involved in everything that they’re doing,” Partridge said. “So, we got a group of guys together inside the company and said, ‘what are we going to do?’ And this is what we came up with.”
What they came up with caught the mayor’s eye among a lineup of impressive entries at the city’s third annual holiday season parade.
“They were all amazing but this one with the sheer size of it and the amount of work that went into it really impressed me,” McMorran said. “They said they’ve been planning it for months and working on it for weeks and I just love the North Pole village in addition to the Christmas tree lights and everything.”
The float represented about two weeks of actual construction time, with planning beginning in early November, Partridge said.
“I’m just really impressed with the effort and the quality but it was a tough decision,” McMorran added.
For Partridge and his crew, the award caps off their debut appearance with a promise to return.
“We’re doing it next year, hopefully and hopefully it’s bigger and better,” he said.
Pioneer Connect joins previous winners Shonnard’s (2023) and Benton County Search and Rescue (2024) as winners of the mayor’s award — part of a growing tradition for Philomath’s young but increasingly popular holiday event.