Santa Claus comes to town this Saturday and if he is as loud and lit up as the rest of the floats, you won't be able to miss him.
This year’s theme for the parade is Christmas In The Movies, and will feature 53 floats all decorated to represent a different silver screen attraction.
Darren Castonguay has been involved with the parade for the last several years and said that while he started off small, he kept adding more to his float to where he now has a jam-packed 47-foot float.
“We went with the Polar Express this year and well, I went a little crazy,” joked Castonguay. “I’ve got a ton of LED strips all over the train that go with the music I’m playing, and it is going to be loud.”
Castonguay has been known for a while as having one of the loudest floats in the Barrie parade. While he is the owner of L&M Auto Body at 121 Brock St., during the parade he is a mouse-head-wearing DJ with a float that can’t be missed.
“We’ve got a really good heater for those in the back and one that blows directly on to my hands so I can keep the music going,” said Castonguay. “We’re going to have a barbecue running so the folks on the float can eat. We’ll have about 15 family and friends on board, which is really what makes this fun.”
Sarah Taylor, chair of the parade, told BarrieToday that the hard work that goes into planning the big event is worth it.
“Oh, it is a lot of hard work and we pretty much start right after the last parade,” said Taylor. “It really kicks into high gear around June, but I love it. This is such a fun time of year and I’m so excited about Saturday.”
Taylor loves the partnership with the City of Barrie and the Downtown Barrie BIA and all they do to assist with the parade, but noted it's a Barrie Chamber of Commerce enterprise.
“The city is great and really is a wonderful partner in this, but this is a Barrie Chamber of Commerce event,” said Taylor. “So many great businesses have helped make this happen and we’re so proud to be able to present this to the community year in and year out.”
The parade, which begins at 5 p.m., will follow the same route as it usually does. It will start at the Southshore Centre and travel along Lakeshore Boulevard to Bradford Street where it will go north to Dunlop Street. The parade will then go east on Dunlop Street to Mulcaster Street where it will end and Santa will then head to Meridian Place to light the giant Christmas tree erected earlier this week.
