The annual event is one of the highlights of the early holiday season in the city, featuring hundreds of floats and thousands of people lining Main Street to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Claus on their pre-Christmas journey.
This year, things are going to be much, much different — but don’t fret, the Jolly Old Elf and his wife are still coming to the Friendly City, taking part in a four-night tour over the next two weekends that will bring Santa to every corner of Moose Jaw.
“This year with COVID, the traditional Main Street parade definitely wasn’t happening, and we didn’t want to put a hiatus on it,” said Kinsmen Club member and parade organizer Cory Olafson. “And living through 2020 and the way it’s been, we’re trying to bring a little ray of sunshine into people’s lives by doing this.”
The tour is the brainchild of Jody and Rick Oakes, themselves longtime supporters of the parade who approached the club with the idea of touring the city.
“They said ‘what if you guys took the parade to the people’ and we thought that was a fantastic idea,” Olafson said. “Our guys jumped on board and were all over it, ‘let’s take this to the kids, wherever we can manoeuvre a 20-foot-trailer.’”
And that’s how it will play out.
CaptionThe Kinsmen have broken the city into four quadrants, with the first tour taking place in the South Hill area on Nov. 28 beginning at 6 p.m. Those wanting to catch Santa at the perfect time can follow on the interactive map that can be found by clicking right here.
The second night will take place on Sunday, Nov. 29 and tour Sunningdale and Iron Bridge, the third night will go Saturday, Dec. 5 and cover from 9th Avenue Northwest to Thatcher Drive, the fourth night on Sunday, Dec. 6 will cover everything east of 9th Avenue Northwest to the Trans Canada Highway.
Everything kicks off on Saturday before the first tour with the official ‘Light’s On’ ceremony at Mosaic Place. You can check that out virtually on the Kinsmen Facebook page, but the club is stressing that people not come down for the event, otherwise it will be shut down.
Santa fans will see the Moose Jaw Police Service providing an escort, followed by Santa — riding a special trailer donated by Golden West Trailer for the occasion — and the Moose Jaw Fire Department.
In addition the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank will be taking part, with people asked to place donations in bags on the curb in front of their house, where they’ll be collected and donated.
“They didn’t get to do their Halloween drive this year, which is a pretty big deal for them,” Olafson explained, “So we asked them if they were interested in this, and they’ll be the last vehicle in the parade collecting donations from people. So if people can put non-perishable food items in a bag, we’ll have a lot of guys from the Kinsmen out there, they’ll run over and grab it and carry on.”
For updates on the parade and other information on the event, be sure to follow the Kinsmen Facebook page.
