Milton Santa Claus Parade November 26

A little Christmas movie magic will be among the highlights of this year’s Milton Santa Claus Parade

This year’s theme is ‘Christmas in the Movies’ and residents and parade lovers will surely get to see some floats that will bring back memories of holiday classics such as ‘A Christmas Story,’ the ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ‘Elf,’ ‘Christmas Vacation’ or ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’

And Santa Claus, of course, the most famous Christmas classic of them all.

The 2023 Milton Santa Claus Parade will take place Sunday, November 26, starting at 1:30 p.m., with the route beginning at Main St W and Whitmer Street and ending at the Oakville GO Station.

Santa Claus made his first appearance in Milton is a store display in 1907 but, according to local historian Jim Dills, did not make his first appearance at a parade until 1925 when he was spotted riding along Main Street on the radiator of a motorcar, which were still pretty rare in those days.

The first proper Santa Claus Parade took place in 1933 and that has continued to this day, though there were a few years Santa remained at his cozy lodgings at the North Pole, with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 being one of them. In 1965, according to Dills, jolly St. Nick arrived in “spectacular fashion” out of a helicopter.

As always, volunteers put in the work to make the parade run and 2023 will be no different.

For more information on the Milton Santa Claus Parade and its history, visit https://www.miltonsantaclausparade.ca/.