Modified Santa Parade draws thousands in Moncton

A modified version of Moncton’s traditional Santa Claus parade drew thousands of people Sunday after the original parade was cancelled due to bad weather.

From 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. a handful of floats and characters took over the Moncton Coliseum parking lot led by Mr. and Mrs. Claus themselves.

Robert Gallant was the event coordinator. He said they were ready for the cancellation because of a similar pivot they made during COVID.

“At least the kids could come out and see Mrs. Claus and Santa and a few of the floats,” said Gallant.

People were able to walk through the modified parade on foot and look at the different floats and lights. Guests were encouraged to drop off letters to Santa and make a donation for the Peter McKee Food Bank.

Gallant has been with the parade committee for about 20 years. He said he can’t remember ever cancelling a parade, except during COVID, before this year.

“This is really the big kick-off to the holiday season for Greater Moncton,” Gallant said. Normally we’d have almost 100,000 people lined up and down Main Street from Moncton to Dieppe.”

Gallant said volunteers start working on the parade in January and put in hundreds of hours for the end of the year event.

“We’re just glad we could welcome everybody out and show off a few of the Christmas lights that we had planned from last weekend,” Gallant said.

Gallant said when the committee announced the modified parade they received overwhelming support from the community.

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