
September 18, 2020 · 0 Comments
By Mike Baker
Orangeville Council is doing everything it can to ensure Santa Claus comes to town this Christmas time.
On Monday (Sept. 14), Coun. Debbie Sherwood introduced a motion calling on the municipality to consider hosting a Santa Claus parade in November. The event has traditionally been hosted and organized by the Kin Club of Orangeville, however the organization announced back in June that they would not be taking on the responsibility this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to the Citizen back in the summer, Cindy Williams, past chair of the Orangeville Santa Claus parade organizing committee, said the Kin Club’s main concern was that they would not be able to secure the necessary insurance to host the event. This, essentially, lead to them pulling out of an event they have been a major part of for more than 40 years.
“It is a huge disappointment. We don’t want to disappoint the kids, but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes. This event takes months of planning, and a lot of that planning takes place in the spring. We can’t put it together at a drop of a hat,” Ms. Williams said. “The way things are going, we’re not even sure if big events will be allowed.”
She added, “We never said we were cancelling the parade. We just said we are not prepared to host it this year. It’s up to the Town if they want to host it.”
Now, Coun. Sherwood is keen for the Town to pick up the baton, so to speak. She informed Council that she has recently participated in a Zoom call with Santa Claus’ booking agent, and that the big man was really anxious to once again visit our community should the Town be able to put something together.
An initial motion called for staff to investigate the possibility of hosting a drive-by only event, which would restrict individuals from walking in the parade and would limit the amount of people allowed on individual floats, however Coun. Grant Peters said he would prefer to see a regular, traditional parade take place.
Coun. Lisa Post worried about the additional stress and pressure organizing a Santa Claus parade could place on Town staff, although CAO Ed Brennan said he was hopeful it was an endeavour they could take on.
“I’m always concerned with the workload of staff. It has been a very busy year, and staff has done a lot of extra work to get us through this COVID-19 pandemic. With that said, I have spoken to Ray (Osmond, the Town’s General Manager of Community Services), and he is more than willing to check into this,” Mr. Brennan said. “It would be a great thing if we can pull it off within the rules and guidelines of public health.”
While the Town would take on a leading role in organizing the event, there was some suggestion that other community groups may be willing to step in to lend a helping hand. As a member of the Orangeville Lion’s Club, Mayor Sandy Brown said he would be bringing this up at the organization’s next meeting.
Playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, Coun. Todd Taylor was not in favour of the Town organizing this year’s Santa Claus parade.
“I don’t think this is a good idea. I think we should be falling back. These are events usually run by community groups, not the Town. I don’t think we should be allowing staff to take their eye off the tasks they have on hand,” Coun. Taylor said. “I would prefer that service clubs run these kind of events and items.”
Town staff will prepare a report on the feasibility of hosting this year’s event, and the potential costs involved, and present back to Council in a couple of weeks.