WATCH: Celebration of Lights Parade kicks off El Paso Winterfest

(Editor's note: You can watch the entire lighting ceremony and Celebration of Lights Parade in the video player above.)

EL PASO, Texas -- The city of El Paso celebrated the start of Winterfest on Saturday, in downtown El Paso, with the holiday tree lighting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. followed by the Scherr Legate Celebration of Lights Parade at 6 p.m.

The annual celebration of lights parade, now in its 26th year, featured a variety of floats and vehicles decked out in colorful lights, marching groups and more. This year, the one-mile course included more than 40 entries participating in the march through downtown, led by Santa Claus.

KVIA-TV broadcast the lighting ceremony and parade on the El Paso-Las Cruces CW, over-the-air channel 7.2.

The holiday lighting ceremony started in 1998 as the holiday light parade. That same year, El Pasoan Corrine Boyce donated the first live holiday tree to the city at San Jacinto Plaza, in memory of her late husband, Charles “Chuck” Boyce. El Paso Parks and Recreation staff removed the 50-foot Afghan pine tree from the front yard of Boyce’s home and replanted it at the plaza.

The Scherr Legate Celebration of Lights Parade kicked-off the Winterfest season, running until Jan. 2. The parade and holiday lighting ceremony have become El Paso traditions enjoyed by tens of thousands of downtown visitors,

Information on Winterfest is available at epwinterfest.com.