{"id":25285,"date":"2019-11-22T20:12:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T01:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25285"},"modified":"2019-11-29T15:31:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T20:31:25","slug":"santas-back-in-town-parade-takes-over-yonge-street-this-saturday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/santas-back-in-town-parade-takes-over-yonge-street-this-saturday-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa\u2019s Back in Town: Parade takes over Yonge Street this Saturday night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Claus is making a comeback!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jolly Man in Red is set to return to Aurora this\nSaturday for the annual Santa Under the Stars Parade, which will make its way\ndown Yonge Street from Orchard Heights in the north to Murray Drive in the\nsouth from 6 \u2013 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A firm family favourite, which sees thousands of\nyoungsters \u2013 and the young at heart \u2013 line the route not only to see Santa\nhimself, but scores of colourful floats, marching bands, and street\nentertainers, is a storied local tradition, and one that Santa looks forward to\neach year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, however, Santa is not the only one making a\nlist and checking it twice to make sure he\u2019s ready for the big day; Mrs. Claus\nhas her own game plan to make sure her husband is Aurora-ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an exclusive telephone interview from the North Pole\nlast week, Mrs. Claus shared some last minute preparations, and a few sneak\npreviews, with The Auroran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Auroran: This is a big night for Santa Claus, not to\nmention the families who look forward to it each year. What are you doing to\nhelp Santa prepare for the Santa Under the Stars Parade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Claus: This is a parade that he is always very\nexcited to be a part of and, of course, it is at the magical evening time for\nsparkling lights. One thing I do differently that day is serve his dinner at\nlunch so he only has snacks and cookies to eat along the parade route. We flip\nhis meal schedule around. For snacks, I also ensure he has lots of lozenges and\ncandies because I know he wants to say hello to all the children he recognizes\nthroughout the parade route, which is kind of a lengthy one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: Are there any special things you keep in mind for the\ntrip?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: The honest answer would be that I pack what he needs,\nbut truthfully this is my chance to get out of the North Pole. I pack just as\nmuch for me as I do him because this is my little weekend getaway. Coming to\nAurora, which is full of fantastic restaurants and such unique shopping, I am\njust as excited as he is. In terms of packing for him though, I always ensure\nhis suit is spectacular and very, very clean. As excited as he is, he likes to\nbe in tip top shape as well. Because the temperature is always unpredictable, I\nmake sure I keep those hot pods that keep his hands warm. He likes to take his\ntime and make sure he gets to wave to all the children \u2013 and I need to make\nsure his feet stay warm too. He loves his little candies and he can\u2019t travel\nanywhere without his candy canes. We make sure we come well-stocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: I know that the parade organizers add a few new\ndetails each year to keep the parade fresh \u2013 and that Santa usually gets a sign-off\non all the changes. What are you two particularly excited about this year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: Santa is going to have a gorgeous, sweet ride that\nevening. I understand when speaking with the Town staff that some very special\nparks staff have been doing a lot of work to transform his ride and to make it\nlook really fresh and really spectacularly new this year. As well, I know the\nTown\u2019s roads crew have been working extra hard to make sure the road is going\nto be in tip top shape, so not only will we have a sweet ride, we\u2019ll have one\nof the smoothest rides. Of course, Santa sits higher than anyone else in the\nfloat, so he always gets joy in looking at the incredible floats. Floats not to\nmiss include the Optimist Club of Aurora. They always do a stand-out job on their\nfloat, as well as the Knights of Columbus, which comes with their big model\nship. In between, there are many marching bands. Personally, I don\u2019t think you\ncan ever get too many marching bands because they are all such a delight. We\nhave several dance groups that will be performing throughout the parade route.\nThey are so dynamic, I think they certainly give the entertainment value\nsimilar to a marching band. In addition to that, there will be a few new\ncommunity entries coming out as well, so it will be great to see them getting\ninvolved and making a spectacular way for my husband to travel in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: The parade involves a cast of hundreds, not to\nmention the thousands lining the route. Does the amount of people ever get\noverwhelming?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: The volunteers make everything so easy. As you know,\nour elves work throughout the year to get Santa ready for the big day. It goes\non par with the Santa Under the Stars parade because our elves tell us that the\nOptimist Club volunteers their time and work tirelessly to ensure that it is a\nsafe parade evening. They shuttle the floats in, they take care of the\nvolunteer groups, and even ensure the parade route is safe all the way down. I\ndefinitely want to say a special hello to the Optimist Club of Aurora because\nthey are keeping us safe along with the Roads and Parks staff that evening. One\nthing I do know that Santa did remind me of his concern is many families\nactually sit on the roadways waiting for him to come, but it is his personal\nrequest that people watch him come by standing on the sidewalk at the side of\nthe road. The Town of Aurora is so generous with how long the parade route is,\nit does lock up Yonge Street for a considerable length. If there are emergency\nsafety calls on any of the side streets, they have to access that closed road.\nHe really wants to see his faithful children and families watching the parade\nfrom the sidewalks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard, but the parade route is\npassing once again through Aurora\u2019s Historic Downtown Core, but this is the first\nyear the area\u2019s Business Improvement Area (BIA) will be on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: Oh, yes, we read about that. In fact, they reached\nout to us with some ideas of how to become involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: Oh? What do they have in store for Saturday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: The BIA is very passionate about the downtown core\nand they always look forward to this event coming up. Many of the shops will be\ndecorated, will be staying open late. This is one of the highlights visiting\nAurora, discovering the retail shops and the eateries along Yonge Street. There\nis something for every appetite. Take advantage of the parade night and get\nsome gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TA: I hope I can check a few items off my Christmas\nshopping list! Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC: You\u2019re very welcome. See you Saturday!<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mrs. Claus provides exclusive on how she gets Santa ready for his second-busiest night of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6zP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 11:54:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}