After 10 years of organizing Lawrence’s horse-drawn Christmas parade, Eldridge Hotel officials are taking their show on the road.

Rob Phillips, general manager of the downtown Lawrence hotel, said the Eldridge was sponsoring and organizing a horse-drawn parade in April for Ellsworth, a central Kansas town with a population of about 2,500.

Phillips said officials with the city’s chamber of commerce approached him about helping the city start a parade that would complement its annual “End of the Trail” spring gathering, a weekend event that features a variety of Old West events.

Phillips said he agreed, in large part, because he hoped it would create positive name recognition for the hotel during a tough economy.

“It all has to do with this economy,” Phillips said. “This economy sucks.”

As part of the deal, all advertising for the event will mention the Eldridge Hotel and its history. Phillips said that should help the hotel in its effort to establish more statewide name recognition.

“The larger strategy for us is to become known as the Kansas hotel, so that whenever someone is in the state, they feel like they need to spend a night here,” Phillips said. “In this economy, we’re trying to do lots of things to bring attention to the hotel because there are so few travelers right now.”

Jim Gray, owner of Ellsworth’s Drovers Mercantile, said the city turned to Phillips and the hotel because of its success with the Eldridge Hotel Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade, which attracts about 10,000 spectators each December to downtown Lawrence.

“With the kind of groundwork he already has in place, we’re expecting it to be an exceptional parade,” Gray said. “We have attempted to pull off a parade in the past, but it just never seemed to work for us.”

Phillips said during the 10-year history of the Lawrence parade, he has established a list of about 550 people who have horse-drawn wagons and carriages and were interested in participating in parades.

Phillips said he expected about 50 entries in the Ellsworth parade, which would make it about half the size of the Lawrence event.

The parade will start at 11 a.m. April 12 in downtown Ellsworth, which is about 30 miles southwest of Salina.