File photo by Eric Ayres Santa Claus anchors the 2022 Main Street Bank Fantasy In Lights Parade in Wheeling. Parade officials hope downtown road construction will be completed to a point that the parade can follow last year’s route.

WHEELING — The 2023 Main Street Bank Fantasy in Lights Parade still will bring Santa to downtown Wheeling this year — even if there are a few construction hurdles to maneuver.

The parade is set to march just after 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, and it will go on even if some of the route has to be changed to avoid traffic hazards, according to Laurie Conway, marketing and communications director at the Chamber.

Details are still being addressed.

Conway expects the parade route to take a similar route to last year, with entries starting out by crossing the Market Street Bridge to begin the parade route.

But the bridge has been officially closed for more than a year after its decking was damaged on June 7, 2022.

The West Virginia Division of Highways permitted it to be open briefly last November to accommodate entries in last year’s parade.

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron told city council members last month the Division of Highways has informed him bids to repair the bridge were expected to go out by early fall, with construction “beginning sometime in October or November with completion sometime in early spring.”

Conway noted the Chamber has heard nothing from the Division of Highways yet regarding the parade, but plans continue to march forward and make changes in the route as necessary.

“I think we’ll have the same route as last as long as the Market Street Bridge in Center Wheeling — which is closed now — is open,” she said.

The parade, as planned, would proceed down Market Street past West Virginia Northern Community College to the 1500 block of Market Street — which is also presently closed — to 12th Street.

The parade will turn left on 12th Street at the intersection with the McLure Hotel and Vagabond Kitchen and continue down Main Street before dispersing after the Orrick building in the 2200 block of Main Street.

The chamber is hoping to attract at least 100 entrants, Conway continued.

Groups and organizations wishing to participate should download the application available through the Chamber’s website at wheelingareawv.chambermaster.com.

The application covers much legal information and is quite lengthy, Conway acknowledged. It will need to be mailed to the chamber office at 1100 Main St., first floor, Wheeling, WV 26003; or emailed to reception@wheelingchamber.com.

The applications must be returned by Nov. 3.

“We’re going to do the best that we can, and we’ll take a closer look at it as we move closer,” Conway said. “We’re hoping that they (construction crews) will be far enough up Market Street by the time the parade comes around that we can have the parade on that section of Market Street. But there are no guarantees.”