Santa Claus makes trip to Shelburne for yearly parade

December 9, 2021 · 0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Shelburne families braved the cold temperatures on Saturday evening, lining the streets to catch a glimpse of the man in the red and white suit as the local BIA Santa Claus Parade made a return after a hiatus last year.

Melissa Hooper, treasurer for the Shelburne BIA, said ahead of the event residents were excited to see it’s return and the response from the community has been positive.

“We were excited and pretty happy to see it turn out the way it did. A lot of the responses we got on Facebook were that the parade was really well enjoyed,” said Hooper. “It’s nice to see after trying to pull it together as quickly as we did, that it worked out.”

Starting from the Shelburne Agricultural Community Centre, a total of 26 floats decked out in holidays themes were lead by the Shelburne Fire Department. The floats made their way down to Robert Street, passing in front of the long-term care homes and making a loop through Jelly Street, Main Street, First Avenue back to William Street.

The Borges family has been attending the Shelburne Santa Clause Parade for around 30 years, and said they were glad to see the parade back.

“It’s nice to have some normalcy back and to be able to see people out. We missed it last year, it was hard for the little ones,” said the family.

Local resident Craig Hutchings has also been a past attendee of the local event and watched the parade with family and friends. Despite the chilly weather, as the spectacle of floats rolled by he told the Free Press “it’s beautiful and great to see everybody out.”

While adult attendees indulged in the social experience, for many of the children the big moment was catching a glimpse, a wave, or a hello from family, friends and even the guest of honour himself – Santa Claus.

Chase and Oliver Crawford stood at the front of the Santa Clause Parade with excitement as they told the Free Press they were waiting to see their grandmother walk by in the parade. The duo said their Christmas list to Santa included a hockey net and a new mini-stick.

Rachel Gawthroup, 8, shared a similar sentiment at seeing her brother participate in this year’s Santa Claus parade.

“This is my brother’s first parade he’s ever been in,” she said.

Five-year-old Aria Fontes had at the top of her list to Santa Claus, a baby Elsa doll and also gave the Free Press the scoop on Santa’s favourite cookie; oatmeal.