A 10-year Christmas tradition in Lawrence may be coming to an end.

There will be no downtown horse-drawn carriage Christmas parade this year, said Rob Phillips, the parade’s founder and primary organizer.

“It was just such a financial burden and time-consuming,” Phillips said. “It literally took hundreds of my hours. I just don’t have the time for it.”

The parade also generated publicity and business for the Eldridge Hotel, Phillips said. In fact, it was billed as the Eldridge Hotel Old Fashioned Christmas Parade.

But by the time the holidays arrive, Phillips probably won’t be the hotel’s owner. The hotel filed for bankruptcy last year, and a federal judge ordered that it be auctioned Oct. 12 to pay off about $2.1 million in debts. Phillips said he had no plans to try to continue the parade without the hotel’s name.

“I’ve got to make my living now off my farm and my bed-and-breakfast,” Phillips said. “I’ve got to get on with my life.”

Phillips said the annual cost of putting on the parade was from $7,000 to $8,000. During the past several years, the parade has featured about 100 horse-drawn wagons, buggies and carriages, all decorated for the holiday season. It drew thousands of people to Massachusetts Street to watch.

“I loved the parade,” Phillips said. “It came as an idea to me, and I think it was a success.”

There is no adequate way to judge how much, if at all, the parade benefited local businesses, said Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau. It does generate regional publicity for the city, she said. And based on what she has heard from business owners and what she has seen, the parade generates “day trips” to Lawrence by people from out of town.

“They do spend money, and there’s no question that it has some economic benefit,” Billings said.

The parade has been in trouble before. At least twice previously, local businesses or individuals were asked to come to the rescue to help Phillips defray costs. Peach Madl, owner of The Sandbar, 117 E. Eighth St., led past fund-raising efforts. She was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Phillips said he would be open to assistance from the community or any group that wanted to share or take over much of the burden, but he wasn’t going to encourage it.

“I’m not going to beg people,” he said.