On Dec. 5 Bonnyville will be having its first Santa Claus parade in over a decade.
As of Nov. 10 a total of 30 floats had registered for the parade, which was more than enough support the town needed to declare the event a go.
“We had a great response from the community,” said Bonnyville Assistant CAO Bill Rogers. “I think we are at the point now where there is enough interest to say there will be a Santa Claus parade.”
The parade will take place on the first Saturday in December and will take a simple route straight down main street.
Floats will start at 5 p.m. on the corner of 55 St. and 50 Ave., turn on to main street and travel all the way down to the Centennial Centre.
“Santa has made time for us,” said Vonda Worthman, a local teacher who started the push for the event.
“Santa Claus will be riding on the town's float and will be the last float of the parade.”
Once the parade arrives at the Centennial Centre people will be invited inside the field house, where there will be treats and a variety of games available for kids.
The Baptist Church joined forces with the event and will be providing hot chocolate and cookies, along with bouncy houses and other kids actives. The post-parade event will run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m at the C2.
“The community has come together and hopefully they can continue to come together and make it a really fantastic parade,” said Worthman.
The Santa Claus parade committee approached the town council back on Aug. 25 and presented them with their plan to revitalize a Bonnyville Santa Claus Parade.
Council supported the idea, but felt they needed to see a minimum of 20 floats register for the parade before they could officially allow it to happen.
After that, the local organizers spent the next few months rounding up the support of the community.
“We have been working our tails off emailing and spreading the word. We took registration forms to local businesses,” said Worthman.
“I think the town generally wanted to see it go ahead. So when they saw there were two floats, then seven floats, I think people really stepped up and put their registration forms in.”
While there was a registration deadline of Nov. 13, Worthman says that was just a date to decide if the event would move forward or not. Now that they have enough floats, the committee is prepared to keep accepting more registrations up until the event.
“The community has come together and hopefully they can continue to come together and make it a really fantastic parade,” said Worthman.
Organizers are encouraging those who have registered a float in the parade to make them as light and bright as possible, and to have someone walk alongside the float to hand out candy.
The Town of Bonnyville administration has begun to work on the logistics needed to close down 50 Ave. for a couple hours and successfully pull off the parade.
