There will be no Santa Claus parades in the city of Saint John this year, officials announced on Monday.
Organizers have cancelled the Saint John and Lancaster Santa Claus parades due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We understand the disappointment that you will have to not have this annual tradition to mark the Christmas Season, however we must always act on the side of safety and this is what we are doing,” said organizers in a Facebook post Monday morning.
“We will bring the parade back in 2021 bigger and better and it will give us something to focus on that will give us hope during this pandemic.”
It is with great sadness that we announce that the 68th Annual Saint John Santa Claus Parade and the 16th Annual…
Posted by Saint John Santa Claus Parade on Monday, October 19, 2020
Blaine Harris of the Saint John Lancaster Business Association said they explored the idea of a static parade where people drive by the floats similar to what the City of Moncton plans to do at the Coliseum.
He said they couldn’t find a location they felt was safe enough to handle potentially 7000 vehicles and provided one example.
“If you lined up on the causeway, you’d have to have traffic on the opposite lane coming in both directions. The first time one of the little kids screams and hollers they want to see Santa Claus and the car slows down and the car behind them is not paying attention and the next thing you know if you have a pileup,” Harris said.
Harris said they understand will be disappointed but, we are going to looking at this as an annual tradition. We pick it up again next year and next year’s parade will be better and better.
This year would have marked the 68th year for the Saint John parade and the 16th year for the Lancaster parade.
With files from Brad Perry and Tamara Steele.
