Santa Claus is coming to town this Saturday for London’s 67th annual Santa Claus Parade.
Starting at 6 p.m., this year’s theme is Christmas Lights Extravaganza, according to executive director Shaun Merton.
“We’ve done everything, from music and toys, and we just thought we’d try something new,” he said. “I haven’t seen this much detail in years on the floats, so I think it’s going to be a really good parade.”
However, the evening parade will take a new route on Nov. 18, starting at Quebec Street and heading west on Queens Avenue.
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Merton told Global News that the route was altered this year because of the ongoing construction throughout the city.
“We only had the route settled less than two weeks ago,” he said.
From Queens Avenue, Merton said that the parade will be turning north onto Waterloo Street, then west on Dufferin Avenue, heading south on Clarence Street and then turning west back onto Queens Avenue, to Ridout Street.
Looking back on last year, over 5,387 pounds of non-perishable food was collected along the 2022 parade route for the London Food Bank. Nearly 700 Letters to Santa were also collected along last year’s parade route by Canada Post and The Thames Heritage Club.
“It’s great that people want to come out and get involved in a community event that makes people happy, and that’s why we do it,” Merton said.
First hitting the streets of the Forest City in 1956, he added that as a kid, he never wanted to miss the Santa Claus Parade.
“It’s a thing from all of our hearts and we’d like to give back to the city and this is the way we do it,” he said. “The excitement just gets better and better every year.”