Preview of Toronto’s Santa parade

‘Tis the season for Santa Claus parades. And in a couple of weeks from now, one of the biggest in Southern Ontario will take over downtown Toronto. And this year, the 109th Toronto Santa Claus parade promises some new floats, new technology, and a new event before the parade starts. Cindy Csordas took in a parade preview.

Santa and Mrs. Claus say this year magic is competing with technology!:   “We have a whole new technology department at the north pole just to help with all the new. Whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, hard to keep track of all that!”

Santa’s float began taking digital photo’s of spectators a few years ago, but this year, a new app can be downloaded from the parade website called Santasnaps. You can download several accessories to dress up the pictures taken of you and your family. Add some elves, or a red nose! Another new event is the Holly Jolly Fun Run.

Peter Beresford is the parade President: “We’re encouraging participants to run in front of hundreds of thousands of people, dress up in a Christmas costume and have a lot of fun and help raise money for the Santa Claus parade.”

Organizers say the Toronto Santa Claus parade is the largest outdoor event in Canada and it attracts about 750 thousand people. Including these children who are now going to be part of the parade too!

Santina Brearley: “A lot of kids like Santa and they feel happy and that makes everybody else happy around!”

Maryanne Shaw: “There’s people around selling things and there’s warm hot chocolate, it’s just a wonderful event and the parade itself is just out of this world!”

Santa may stay away from some of the sweets, he’s talking healthy treats this year.

Q: You’re not on a diet are you Santa? “No, no, no, but I just watch the amount I eat and I still have my cookies I must say, so I’m saying a slice of apple and an oatmeal cookie.”

November 17th at 12:30pm, 24 floats and three-thousand people will parade through the streets of Toronto.

“Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!”