The Tour of Lights on the Santa Express has officially been cancelled for the 2023 season after reports of theft and vandalism in November, glimmers of hope due to a CORE Community Center donation and issues with obtaining insurance for the Santa Express.
– Photo courtesy of The City of Frankfort.
After reports of vandalism and theft on the Frankfort Main Street Santa Express on Nov. 28, the trailer was taken out of commission for the season as the incident was under investigation and repairs were scheduled for the future once the investigation was concluded.
Frankfort Main Street announced that the Tour of Lights would still continue on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 with the help of CORE Community Center, which offered two buses for the team to utilize for the Christmas season. However, as the dates drew closer, Frankfort Main Street released a statement that the weekend’s tours were cancelled due to issues with receiving their insurance confirmation. The team remained hopeful that the insurance confirmation would be received for the following weekend, but the organization announced that the insurance confirmation on the borrowed buses from CORE Community Center was not received in time, and the Santa Express would not operate during the Christmas season.
After the initial vandalism and theft, Kim Stevens, Frankfort Main Street Executive Director, hinted at the possibility that the Santa Express would not be operational regardless of whether the organization received an alternative to the trailer.
“We were in the process of upgrading insurance as well, so right now we can’t really go to new insurance because we have an active case open now,” Stevens said. “There’s several complicated parts to this, but if we can get something rented, we will definitely have something available. We’re hoping not this weekend but hopefully by the next weekend.”
The Santa Express has been operational for 12 seasons, and the Frankfort Main Street team expects that the holiday tradition will be operational again for its 13th season next year.
“I am bummed,” Stevens said. “I was sick to my stomach when I heard about it. We take about 1,500 people through the TPA Park during the Christmas season, and those are people that have been doing that for the past 12 years. This would be the 13th year, so they started a family tradition, so that breaks my heart.”
Stevens hinted that the Santa Express is expected to receive upgrades for the 2024 season as the holiday experience returns to the Clinton County community.
The TPA Park Festival of Lights will still continue during its scheduled dates regardless of the cancellation of the Tour of Lights on the Santa Express. Santa will still be greeting the community at Prairie Creek Park every day except Wednesdays, where he will be greeting the community at TPA Park for the Festival of Lights instead.