MUSKOKA, ON – Residents of Muskoka have been so nice that Santa is visiting twice, this weekend.
Huntsville and Bracebridge are holding Christmas parades.
The first will be tonight in Huntsville where residents can catch Saint Nick rolling down Main Street.
Lorraine Morin is with the Rotary Club, which is putting on the event. In an interview with MyMuskokaNOW.com, she said the hope is that everyone will come out and enjoy the parade, but added families need to put safety first.
“Please keep your children back off the roads,” Morin said. “Keep them up on the sidewalks. The floats are large and the people driving the floats have enough to worry about. They don’t want to be worried about children being on the streets. For safeties sake, please, please keep children up on the sidewalk.”
The theme this year is Joy to the World and Morin said there will be 45 floats along with two pipe bands.
The parade will begin at 7 p.m. at Centre Street and will wrap up at the Huntsville Mall. Residents are asked not to park on Main Street after 3 p.m. so crews can setup.
Anyone who can’t make it tonight has a second chance on Sunday.
Bracebridge is holding its 72nd Santa Claus parade and it is a long one.
Don McCay is the Parade Elf and told MyMuskokaNOW.com there are about 60 floats so far and the whole event could take up to an hour and a half.
McCay added Bracebridge’s theme is We the North based on the Toronto Raptors’ recent success. He said it isn’t just about the Raps though, the theme just suits the town.
“It is pretty much ‘We the’ and fill the blank in ‘North,'” McCay said. “So it could ‘We Plow the North,’ ‘We Take Care of the North’ or a place like Moose FM could say ‘We Entertain the North.'”
McCay added that floats can still be entered but must be registered on the website by Saturday night.
The parade will take over Manitoba Street, beginning at 1 p.m. on Monck Road and finishing up at the four-way stop at Ontario Street.
McCay said all the intersections will be closed along the route from 11 a.m. until all the floats have passed, which he estimates will be around 2:30 p.m.