Our 2025 Grand Marshal for the Holiday Electric Light Parade is.... 

Remington Jones

Ogden's Holiday Electric Light Parade and Gala will feature a special 7-year-old this year. This year's Grand Marshal, selected through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, is Remington Jones. He has experienced some unfortunate medical issues this year, and Remington and his family are excited to have him honored as this year's Grand Marshal. 

“As a family-owned business, we believe deeply in giving back to the community that supports us. The Make-A-Wish float is a special way for our team to come together and create something meaningful for a child and their family,” said Isaiah & Melissa Salazar, Owners of Rhino Linings Ogden. Rhino Lining has invited the community to come together in creating a grand and memorable float for Remington! With everyone’s creativity and teamwork, this project is shaping up to be something extraordinary. Final touches will be added this weekend, leading up to the big reveal at the parade, where Remington and the entire community will get to see this amazing masterpiece come to life. 

Each year, generous businesses offer their support to help make the event special for the child being honored. This year, the theme is fit for a superhero. Thanks to local businesses, including Rhino Linings, Minky Couture, Dillard’s, Tona Sushi, Empyre Barbershop, Lawnscape, Wasatch Roasting Company, Regeneration Health, and Affect Beard, as well as Ogden City, for the wonderful gifts and experiences donated to Remington and his family during this special event.

A little bit about Remington’s story as told by his parents.   

About a year and a half ago, Remington began to get sick and developed rashes all over his body. He was also losing weight. For many months, we went back and forth with his pediatrician. They initially thought it was a virus, but after running various tests, they still could not determine what was causing the problem. Despite our pediatrician doing everything in his power to find a diagnosis, it became frustrating not to have an answer.  

Remington loved playing basketball and eventually was limping up and down the court. We originally thought he had sprained his ankle. Over the next week, it got worse and worse to the point where his legs and knees hurt so badly and were so swollen that he could no longer walk and was also very lethargic and not eating well.  

We took him to Primary Children’s Hospital, and he was admitted for about a week while they ran tests to determine the cause of this. The Rheumatology team got involved and originally diagnosed him with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. He was put on some autoimmune medications. He was discharged; however, one week later, his teacher called, and Remington was looking very yellow and lethargic again. We went back down to Primary’s, and his Ferritin level was 17,000 (normal is around 150). His liver and other organs were in rough shape.  He was admitted again, this time for about 9-10 days. 

They ended up doing a bone biopsy to rule out possible cancer. Thankfully, that was negative. The Rheumatology team had now given him a further diagnosis of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis with Macrophage Activation Syndrome. This meant that his autoimmune condition could be fatal, as it makes your body attack all your major organs. Remington had to take shots that were very painful daily, along with many other medications. He also had to travel to Primary’s for months to get very high doses of steroids via IV. He is still ongoing with autoimmune treatment. 

Remington is our youngest and has been such a joy in our lives. He is extremely kind and always eager to help others. He has a wonderful pediatrician, Dr. Jason Church (Ogden Clinic PV), as well as his Pediatric Rheumatologist, Dr. Hannah Saltzman (UofU/Primary Children's). He was able to be part of the Make-A-Wish team here in Utah, and they were absolutely wonderful to us. We are honored that Remington gets to participate as the Grand Marshal in the Ogden parade.