Drive-by Santa Claus Parade a success for second straight year in Bolton

By Rob Paul

Usually on the first Saturday in December, there's upwards of 10,000 people crowding Highway 50 in Bolton as they embrace the holiday cheer of the annual Santa Claus Parade.

In a normal year, the whole community is out, there's bands playing wondrous tunes, and of course, ol' Kris Kringle himself riding atop one of the 50 floats.

This isn't a normal year though, but that didn't stop the Kin Club of Bolton from putting together the Santa Claus Parade, even if it looked a little different.

Due to COVID-19, for the second straight year, Santa Claus visited the homes of Bolton in a convertible as the drive-by parade ran through the community.

It was a 24 kilometre trip for Father Christmas than ran from 11 a.m. just past 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 4. It allowed the kids of Bolton to see Santa Claus, despite the restrictions not allowing for a full-blown parade. 

The Santa Claus Parade, whether it be a drive-by or the real thing, is something the Kin Club of Bolton takes pride in bringing to the Town each year because they know how much in means to the community. 

“Especially during COVID, it's nice to do something, because there hasn't been much to do,” said John Stegeman, Chair of Bolton Kin Santa Claus Parade. “We had a great turnout, and the kids were out there and got to see Santa and in a couple cases some kids dropped off a letter for him. For the little ones, it's the highlight of the year. That's why we want to do it, it's an important part of the culture of Bolton. It's been around for almost 50 years and anyone that lives in Bolton knows that the first Saturday of December is when Santa comes to Bolton. It's something we really look forward to doing, too, because we know it's important to the kids.”

The added difficulties of doing the drive-by parade have been mitigated by the help the Kin Club of Bolton has received from community leaders and organizations, but one of the biggest changes has been the inability to have Santa physically in a float.

“We've been really lucky because the OPP and the Town have helped us tremendously,” Stegeman said. “The biggest issue for us is that because we're not closing down road, and it's a share the road permit, we still have to follow the rules of the road. That means, we can't use our official Santa Claus 40-foot float because to use a float on a road where we're sharing it with other vehicles, Santa has to be in a seat belt. So, since we can't use the float, we put him in the back of a convertible. 

“The biggest issue is probably that we can't use our official float and people don't understand that we have to follow the rules and we don't make up the rules. This year, we were fortunate because we had the OPP lead the pack and a big firetruck and Santa and our sound system. We've had a lot of help from Dave Campbell with the Town, the Mayor, Councillors Annette Groves and Tony Rosa, and Fines Ford has come through tremendously the last two years with the convertible.”

Having done the parade since 1973, the Kin Club of Bolton has been able to grow it into the must-see event in Caledon each year, and Stegeman has already begun prepping for what he hopes is a normal parade next year.

“Over that course of time it's gotten bigger and bigger to the point that before COVID we probably had something in the neighbourhood of 11 or 12 bands and 50 floats,” he said. “I've already booked the bands for next year assuming that there's going to be a parade. We will have a parade next year in Bolton if the Region of Peel allows us to close down Highway 50. The last two years we were prepared to do a parade, but because we use Regional Road No. 50 and it's under Peel's control, if they don't allow us to close it, then we can't have a parade. 

“No other streets in Bolton can be closed to have a parade. I'm hoping and assuming—we've already booked bands and sent out emails to participants to let them know we're planning to go ahead—that next year it will be back. Normally by the end of the summer I really get into it, we start thinking about floats and start to fundraise. We fundraise within the Town, we ask business to help to pay for the road closure, floats, and bands. A lot of businesses help us out and fundraising goes right through until the week before the parade. It's a yearlong process for the parade and with a full parade going down Highway 50, there's probably 10,000 to 15,000 people out because we've been able to create a special event for families.”