The community of Fort Macleod was filled with holiday cheer over the weekend.
On Saturday, Nov. 25, local residents and visitors from out of town flocked to the streets for the 40th annual Santa Claus Parade.
A long standing staple, which coordinator and executive director of the Fort Macleod Chamber of Commerce, Sydney Tobler, says brought nearly 100 floats from across southern Alberta.
“Jim Mountain started this in ’82,” said Tobler. “He wanted to bring tourism to Fort Macleod. His vision has grown from a small little parade to now we bring in up to 15,000 people outside Fort Macleod, in a little tiny town of 3,000 so it’s pretty incredible.”
She went on to add that the crowd continues to grow each year and it’s all thanks to local support.
“Our parade is fully funded by the local businesses in our community,” explained Tobler. “It costs over $4,500 dollars to bring in our bands and all those other extra’s that we have.”
It wasn’t just floats apart of the parade, marching bands Santa’s reindeer and a buffalo all marched down main street as part of western Canada’s largest Santa Claus parade.