The annual Santa Claus parade is once again coming to downtown Chatham.
Scheduled to take place on November 15, Chatham will be the first community to host its Santa Claus parade in the municipality. According to Connie Beneteau, office administrator and project coordinator for the Historic Downtown Chatham BIA, the parade is usually around two hours and features 90 different floats.
The parade will start at 6:30 p.m. sharp.
As usual, the grand finale of the parade will feature Old St. Nick himself.
"Of course, the last float is always Santa Claus, Mr. and Mrs. Claus. When they get down to the WISH Centre, Santa gets off the sleigh and he'll be in the WISH Centre for the kids to sit on Santa’s lap and tell Santa what they want," explained Beneteau.
Throughout the fun, Beneteau said there will also be several opportunities for residents to give back to those less fortunate.
"Goodfellows collect food and toys for Christmas. Usually, the fire department does money donation [collection] of some sort with their boot. So [people can] come down bring lots of things to share with others and have a good time handing in some things that other people can enjoy," Beneteau said.
Beneteau said there is still time for people to apply to have a float in the parade. If someone is interested, she recommends it's done sooner than later. Float inquires can be completed by calling the Downtown Chatham BIA at 519-352-8387 or emailing info@downtownchatham.com.
According to Beneteau, the theme this year is "beautiful snowflakes."
"The more they do, the prettier the floats are. Come in with lights and snowflakes or some people do their own theme and add the snowflakes onto it. It's whatever they want to do really."
On the day of the parade, Beneteau that people line up along King Street West with lawn chairs and bring blankets if necessary.
-With files from Cheryl Johnstone.