Santa Claus is coming to… Main Street.
The annual Whitehorse Winterval Santa Claus Parade of Lights will return to its roots for the 2022 parade on Dec. 3.
The parade will begin at 6 p.m. on a route that will travel along Robert Service Way to Fourth Avenue before turning up Lambert Street onto Sixth Avenue, then heading down Main Street at approximately 6:30 p.m. and ending at Front Street where the city’s seasonal tree will be lit. It’s anticipated Santa will arrive at the tree around 7 p.m.
The move back to the more traditional downtown parade route comes after two years of pandemic restrictions that saw a lengthy parade of festive vehicles make their way through neighbourhoods throughout the city.
“We’re really glad and excited,” Leneath Yanson, a project manager with CSR Management, that is organizing the parade, said in a Dec. 1 interview.
She and other organizers are excited to see people together on Main Street again and to have some favourite characters grace the parade once more.
“It’s such a great environment,” she said.
In 2020 and 2021, the festive vehicles made their way through many Whitehorse neighbourhoods allowing many residents to take in the event from their homes or to travel to a street closer to home to take in the parade and wave at Santa while keeping their distance from others. Given the length of the parade and colder weather, the usual characters on the parade route - elves, the Grinch and more - couldn’t be on-hand to greet parade-goers for the last two years.
While a small structure on the back of one truck was created to ensure Santa could make his usual parade appearance, it just wasn’t quite the same greeting parade-goers were used to on Main Street, where Santa might stop to speak to his fans as he made his way to the tree lighting.
With pandemic restrictions now lifted, residents invited to make their way downtown to take in the 20 floats scheduled that will travel a shorter route to celebrate the season.
Yanson said having the parade on Main Street will allow for some parade participants to walk and viewers to get a closer glimpse of some of their favourite parade characters. Another exciting addition to this year’s event for many youngsters might come after the tree-lighting, when they can visit with Santa.
For those wanting a little more distance from the more crowded downtown gathering or are just looking to see the vehicles, Yanson said there will be plenty of festive trucks and vehicles — maybe even a fire truck — heading down Robert Service Way and then along Fourth Avenue beginning at 6 p.m.
Elves, Santa and others will join in after the parade reaches Sixth Avenue and heads down Main Street.
Organizers are describing the floats as “unique and creative”, noting local businesses and organizations have put a lot of volunteer work into designing and sponsoring the pieces.
Proceeds from the parade are going to the Yukon Imagination Library, a program that promotes literacy by sending an age appropriate book every month to each Yukoner under the age of five who is registered with the program.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com