Who goes to a Santa Claus Parade and leaves before the main attraction arrives? Me! Our girls were part of the parade, so even though we covered the event last year (2009 Santa Claus Parade) and I had no real intentions of doing so this year, I still took my camera and decided to share some pics with you. Unlike last year where we had a view from high above the parade route, I was at street level and it was nice to be among the crowds of excited kids and tired parents.

There wasn’t anything different to last year’s event, other than it was a beautiful November day (mild and sunny for the most part), so this is not much of a review but an opportunity to share some pics with you guys…

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There’s absolutely no better way to enjoy the Santa Claus parade than with a hot drink in hand (Go Canadian – Tim Hortons), at street level among all the crowds of people who are drunk on the Christmas spirit. Sometimes in our hectic lives we tend to forget what being a kid is all about and the innocence of believing in Santa and the countdown to Christmas morning.

As usual it was a well organized and managed event, that’s well worth the drive to the downtown core of Hamilton.. even though parking may be an issue. Which is why I had to leave a bit early before the event ended and the big guy made his appearance. Now, does this count as being naughty? Let’s see if he remembers me Christmas morning. Enjoy the holidays.

This year was a bit different however. It was a beautiful day and were it not for the wind it would be very mild. Unless you were standing in the shade of the buildings were it was a constantly cold. Unlike other years (I used to work downtown so I have some experience in past years) the crowd was relatively small and the number of floats in the parade were minimal. The floats which were included were very sparse, lacked any creativity and for most was just a marketing opportunity.

With no kids in hand we didn’t line the streets as the other parents, but we did get a great vantage point form the top of the Jackson Square mall (bonus – no screaming kids).

Here are some pics we took, as well as a link to our video channel on Youtube with an edited video of the entire parade. Hamilton Santa Claus Parade Video.

Overall it was a fun day for the kids who attended and you could easily see the joy on their faces as they anticipated the arrival of Santa. However it seems that the police on the motorbikes got a bigger reception than Santa did. Santa’s float was very lame (see the pic above) and didn’t seem to impress the kids who lined the streets for hours before – I know I wasn’t impressed! This was about the kids and for the kids and I truly hope they had a good time. Those cops on bike made my day also and it’s nice to see them so involved in the community.

Other highlights..

- antique fire trucks

- marching bands (where was the Canadian military?)

- Sherwood cheerleading team.

- loved seeing the aboriginal community involved.

Maybe the current economic climate had something to do with the overall feel of the parade and there probably wasn’t the normal support from the business community. So I urge all business in the area to try and give a little more support wherever you can, for next year’s event.

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