KIDS’ CORNER Downtown streets came alive with festive floats, delighting children and parents alike

FROM A KID’S PERSPECTIVE

With Paris’ Stephen L

On December 2nd, Paris Ontario hosted its own Santa Claus Parade, attracting families from all over the town. Downtown streets came alive with festive floats, delighting children and parents alike, spreading holiday cheer and leaving lasting memories for everyone involved, including me! Here are some awesome highlights from the parade that I wrote in this article.

Grand Floats and Grand Festivity

A large firetruck came in front of the parade playing all of the popular holiday songs you know and love with lights on the sides mimicking the music playing, tune by tune! It was very impressive how they pulled that off since it’s only lights and music, but they did and the end result was cool (and I’m not referring to the temperature)! The Cambridge Shriners Club arrived at the town’s parade with a creative float coming from the North Pole!

There were members of the club riding reindeer with the float decorated around them with festive Christmas lights! But that’s not all, there were more members of the club driving small red-karts and vehicles around the float, waving to everyone they passed! Although, they didn’t crash into anything; everything looked to be in pepper-mint condition! (there’s much more where that came from, trust me).The Paris & District Chamber of Commerce showed up to the parade in a Christmasmobile decorated with a large wreath at the front and holiday lights all around But they’re not the only ones with a Christmas mobile, The Rustic Palm also showed up to the parade with a vibrant lit-up palm tree on the back, with lights all around and an anonymous grey truck had its own Christmas mobile with a Christmas tree on the back They definitely be-wreath in the spirit of the holidays.

GrandBridge Energy made an appearance with a large and decorated bucket truck (which are the vehicles that workers use to perform maintenance on hydro lines) with lights and deer all around! But somebody made a surprise appearance on their float, the Grinch to be specific! He sat inside the bucket with a bag full of presents and a big grin on his face. But it’s okay since they gave candy canes to all of the families they passed! This Christmas is definitely orna-meant to be the best one yet.

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The Grinch stole GrandBridge Energy’s bucket truck and took it for a joy ride during the Paris Parade. It was one of many impressively decorated vehicles. Photo by GrandBridge Energy

Core Dancers were out in full force spreading some holiday cheer and showing off their synchronized moves! (Photo by Susan GimbelLockett).

Even though it wasn’t a float, it was still a very large happening! C.O.R.E Dance Project danced their way into the parade dancing to popular Christmas songs and sending joy to all of the families they passed. Their synchronized dancing had parents and kids dancing to them, having lots of fun! It was cool how there were so many kids and adults in the Dance Project co-operation and they were all wearing the same red outfits!

Small Floats, Big Imagination

There are small floats, and then there are smaller attractions. And I’m talking about very small attractions, yet very impressive! Paris Junction Hobbies showcased their small remote-controlled vehicles driving down the street, each with their own decorations whether they’re ornaments, holiday lights, or even mini Christmas trees! It seemed as if they were having snow much fun decorating them before they arrived!

Legends Taphouse & Grill’s sweet float was their spin-off of a classic delicious holiday activity: a wonderful gingerbread home! This float was decorated with a bunch of jumbo-sized icing, gummies, and other stuff that gave it some pizzazz. Not only was there candy but also cool costumes of gingerbread people, reindeer, and Santas!

If you thought those ones were the coolest parts of the parade, wait for this one! The Brant County Milk Producers wowed everyone by bringing actual cows to the parade walking them as they mooed to everyone they passed. The audience was definitely a-moo-sed! The farm animals were wearing jackets to keep them warm since it really was nippy that night, having everyone wear coats outside.

Choo-choo! KERR Building Solutions arrived at the Santa Claus parade with a very impressive festive vehicle that resembled a colourful locomotive train pulled by a red tractor. Each train car had a different colour (such as blue, yellow, red, and brown) and a different shape making each one unique from the other! Hop on the holiday express because Santa Claus is coming to town!

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Thank-you to the Paris Firefighter’s Club and the rest of the fire stations who helped make this year’s parade one to remember! Photo by County of Brant

Other Holiday Happenings

The main services of the Paris town and the Grand Erie district are Fire, Police, and Ambulance so they must’ve all made an appearance right? Correct! At the very front of the festival were police officers on cool motorcycles and awesome uniforms with police cabs behind them. Behind the Police, there were ambulances as well decorated with colourful Christmas lights sounding the classic ambulance alarm every now and then, with the police cabs doing similar things

And at the very end of the parade, there came Saint Nick himself: Mister Santa Claus and his twelve magical reindeer! He sat on a very detailed sleigh waving to all of the children that passed by, with the reindeer pulling it at the front. They flew above snow-covered decorated pine trees and cabins, cruising through the evening sky. Christmas is always a Claus for celebration!

Conclusion

Paris’ Santa Claus Parade will definitely go down as one of the best and coolest (also temperaturewise) events in this quaint little town of Paris if it isn’t yet. From dancing to toy cars, to gingerbread people, to even Santa Claus himself, this gets you hyped for the holiday break of presents, family, and fun! Make sure not to be rude-olph this holiday season, Santa’s watching!

-Stephen L

Santa Claus was the main attraction of course and he didn’t let anyone down – his sleigh ride through town, reindeer and all, was the perfect conclusion to another great parade. Photo by John Bell

To the right, Legends Taphouse & Grill’s sweet float was their spin-off of a classic delicious holiday activity: a wonderful gingerbread home! This float was decorated with a bunch of jumbo-sized icing, gummies, and other stuff that gave it some pizzazz. Submitted