Saint John Santa Claus Parades Cancelled For 2021

For the second year in a row, both the Saint John and Lancaster Santa Claus parades have been cancelled.

The move is due to the continuation of COVID-19 cases and restrictions placed on the organizations, along with a lack of participation.

“We’re sorry not to be able to do this, it’s hard on everybody, it’s hard on the volunteers that work on the parades, it’s hard on the organizers, nobody wants to cancel the Santa Claus parades,” said Blaine Harris, administer for the parades at the Saint John Lancaster Business Association.

Typically, the Lancaster parade has roughly 40 to 50 entries sign up, while the Saint John Parade has approximately 40 to 60. However, organizers only received four entries this year.

“A lot of the companies, especially in uptown, don’t have all of their employees back, so they’re running with skeleton crews, so they don’t have committees or groups set up to (organize) some sort of float for a parade,” Harris said.

He also mentioned schools, cadet organizations, and other community groups did not sign up this year because of COVID restrictions.

Harris added the Saint John Lancaster Business Association is hopeful the parades will be back in 2022, however, it depends on COVID-19.

“Every year and season is going to be a learning curve, and as an organization putting on these parades, we have to learn how to navigate these rules so everybody can get into a parade again, or any kind of event,” he said.