Holidazzle welcomes return of Twinkle Bus
The Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis kicks off its 2012 season on Friday night.
The parade has been running down the Nicollet Mall since 1992 but stopped a week before Christmas last year because the holiday fell on a weekend.
This year, there will be four additional nightly parades. They run Thursday through Sunday nights, starting at 6:30.
Grand marshals this year will include Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Garrison Keillor and University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler, among others.
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This year will also mark the return of Metro Transit's Twinkle Bus, a rolling holiday light display.
Last year year we didn't have the Twinkle Bus in the parade, and we heard from folks througout the region that really sort of missed it," said John Siqveland, a spokesman for the transit agency. "This is a great way for us to get out in front of people in our core market in downtown Minneapolis and show we're part of the community, and it's a project of civic pride, really."
The parades will run through Dec. 23.
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