‘It’s about keeping the community healthy’: Orillia’s Santa Claus Parade cancelled

Santa Claus is not coming to town.

The annual parade that starred a certain jolly old soul is cancelled in Orillia for 2020, the popular event the latest casualty of the global pandemic.

“It’s about keeping the community healthy,” said Doug Bunker, event organizer and chief elf. “It will be back some time, but it won’t be this year.”

Hosted by the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Claus Parade draws scores of ruby-cheeked revellers to downtown Orillia to watch elaborate floats cruise the city’s core in a kickoff to the Christmas season.

That wasn’t about to happen this year, given the challenge of ensuring physical distancing at an event that traditionally sees throngs of spectators squeezed shoulder to shoulder.

Bunker said he had hoped to host a sort of “reverse” parade in a barricaded portion of the parking lot at the Orillia Square Mall.

The plan was to have members of the public drive single-file past a lineup of stationary floats, allowing passersby to appreciate these pre-winter wonders from the safety of their vehicles.

“Instead of the parade driving by the people, the people drive by the parade,” Bunker said. “We diligently tried to make it safe.”

The proposal had the support of the mall and Canadian Tire, but did not satisfy the public health unit’s concerns regarding gatherings, he added.

“I think with what’s going on now, they are being very cautious,” Bunker said in reference to the rising number of coronavirus cases.

With the parade a no-go this year, the chamber is now working on a separate event, ‘Light up the Season,’ for the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Orillia-area businesses and residents will be invited to decorate their buildings and houses with lights, with residents encouraged to visit businesses and tour neighbourhoods before voting online for the most impressive displays.

Cash awards will be given for best holiday-season display (small business), best lighting display (commercial business) and best home-lighting display.

“Just to say, ‘thanks for making it a little bit brighter in Orillia’, since we’re toning things down,” Bunker added.

The Light up the Season event will begin mid-November and likely run until Christmas.