Holidays in Winnipeg

By Wendy King 02 - h o l i d a y s i n w i n n i p e g 2 0 1 4 in Winnipeg Tradition A Family Celebrate the parade's 105 th year Santa loves a parade, and he'll be spreading cheer right here in Winnipeg on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade executive director Ron Mark is chuffed about all the great stuff happening both before and during the happy march. "We're really excited about the parade! It's the 105th year of the parade running in downtown Winnipeg," he says. "One of the things that really excites me is that it is such a family tradition." Mark says grandparents bring the grandkids to the same street corners they stood on as children and share memories of parades from decades past. "It's amazing how many people really treasure the memory of actually being in the parade — there are hundreds and hundreds of people that were in the parade and that remember it," he says. Eaton's department store threw Winnipeg's first Santa Claus Parade in 1909. It trooped on until 1965, when Captain George Smith of the East Kildonan Fire Department — acting on behalf of the Winnipeg Firefighters Club — bought the parade from Eaton's for $1.50. Since then, the parade has belonged to the community, run by volunteers from such organizations as the Win- nipeg Jaycees (now JCI Winnipeg), and the Winnipeg Parade Committee. In 2006, the parade was rolled into a mega-event when the Grey Cup came to Winnipeg, and JCI Winnipeg, the City of Winnipeg and Manitoba Hydro joined forces. In 2007, the parade became a night-time event known as the Power Smart / JCI Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade. And in 2012, the Winnipeg Parade Committee became a year-round presence to guide and produce the event. With a year-round board, the parade continues to grow and innovate. "Many of the entries that have come in year after year work at changing their entries around or adding to them, so the parade really does have a nice new sparkly look every year," Mark says. There are also about 20 new entries in the 2014 parade, including the Dugald School marching band, which will be up front to help lead it off. There's even something new and different about the Grand Marshal. "Actually this year it's plural — Grand Marshals. We have Team Jennifer Jones, the Olympic Gold Medal-winning curling team from Winnipeg!" Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn Askin will be joined by junior curlers, many of them from the St. Vital curling club, Team Jones' home rink. "With the Grand Marshal, we always like to recognize some of the local people who are involved with youth and who have also done the community proud, and we think that Team Jones is a great example," Mark says. Another major change is that instead of having fireworks at The Forks after the parade, there will be pyrotechnics at three locations along the parade route — close to the start near Memorial Boulevard and Portage Avenue, midway by Portage Place and close to the end of the route at Portage and Main. "We decided this year that we would try some- thing new and exciting," Mark says. "The displays are called Close Proximity Pyrotechnics and they'll be set off as Santa passes by those positions in the parade. So as Santa goes by there will be the py- rotechnic display and then as he moves down the route it will signal the end of the parade for that section of the route." Parade organizers have been working closely with Archangel Fireworks to produce spectacular effects at key locations. "We're quite excited to be able to give the oppor- tunity to see the pyrotechnics to everybody who comes out to see the parade." At the end of the of day, it's really about the excite- ment for the families and the volunteers who come out and create memories on parade day. "One of the things that we've tried to do in the last few years is really encourage any organization or groups that want to get an entry in, to get costumed walkers to walk beside their floats," Mark says. "One entry might have up to 40 or 50 walkers that come along with them, and it's a great experi- ence walking down that parade route and looking into the crowd and seeing all those wonderful smil- ing faces of the children." ❅ Eaton's department store threw Winnipeg's first Santa Claus Parade in 1909. It trooped on until 1965, when Captain George Smith of the East Kildonan Fire Department — acting on behalf of the Winnipeg Firefighters Club — bought the parade from Eaton's for $1.50. Since then, the parade has belonged to the community, run by volunteers from such organizations as the Winnipeg Jaycees (now JCI Winnipeg), and the Winnipeg Parade Committee. ❅ Participants treasure memories of past parades. Photo courtesy of Manitoba Hydro

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