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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-11-30, Page 9Wednesday, November 30, 2016 • Huron Expositor 9 Members of the Huron East Fire Department walk in the parade. Deputy Mayor of Huron East, Joe Steffler tries to tell Brussels councillor, John Lowe his picture is being taken. Seaforth Optimist Club show their Christmas spirit. Some local children wave to Santa Claus. Santa's helpers. Santa Claus made way to Main Street to see the good boys and girls Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor Technically there are four North Poles -Geographic, Magnetic, Geomagnetic and the legendary inaccessible North Pole -which is benign to say for the kid's sake, the lair of the jolly thick white - bearded saint. The Seaforth Lions Club enunciated their gratitude to Santa Claus for making his extensive Arctic expedition. Continually hitting the main drag on the fourth Fri- day of November, the SLC revived the parade in 1977 after a stretch of inactive years. Following the conven- tional movement of most North American towns and cities to hold a daylight fes- tivity, Cathy Elliott, President of the SLC remembers when Lions club member -Ross Ribey formulated a different proposal in 1985, one that would change the parade forever. "(He) had the idea for a night-time illuminated Santa Claus parade and it's been going strong ever since." "I'm glad it's a night parade because every year when the All Girls Marching Band leads the parade away from the curling rink I have tears in my eyes. The best part of the parade for me is the pride in seeing how much time, effort and art- istry our community puts into bringing this parade to the children of Seaforth," stated Elliott. "They are all having fun on their floats, regardless of the weather. I get to ride in the cab of the truck that pulls Santa's float and the crowds of people lining the street amazes me." With the recent clock change, well before the event's 7 p.m. start time, the entire town's skies were dimmed November 25. An ultimate time for the light show that loomed. As soon as the OPP officers arrived to generously flag traffic in preparation of the numerous line-up of floats waiting patiently on the Seaforth Agricultural Soci- ety's track. EMS and the OPP are vital to the parade, stated Elliot through emails. "The police presence is available only if they aren't called away and so far, they haven't been." There are numerous other organizations that contribute including the municipality of Huron East. The Lions approached council in October to be granted permission to close off Main Street through a by-law. Shortly after the parade is held in Novem- ber, they put together a proposal to ask for a grant to help with the following years parade's financials, "and to date, (it's) always honoured," commented Elliot. This year it costs about $2,800 to put the event together and the SLC takes care of the costs not cov- ered by the municipality's grant. "It kicks off the Christmas season for retailers and resi- dents. It's a chance for folks, young and old to experience the magic of Christmas and it doesn't get better than that," said Elliott November 27.