Santa Claus came to town on Friday, December 6, for the West Nipissing Parade of Lights in his honour. True to the name, over 48 brightly decorated parade floats drove through town to the delight of community members of all ages. According to Julie Lavictoire, Manager of Community and Social Development at the municipality of West Nipissing, it took months of work and coordination to pull off the event, and she is thankful to everyone involved in making it a success once again. She issued a special thanks to the town’s maintenance crew, the bylaw officers and volunteers who worked during the parade to set up barricades along the parade route. “This was absolutely a great team effort and it was wonderful bringing such a joyous event to our community,” she says proudly.
Festive Field parade follows
The next evening, December 7, Santa was busy once again for the illuminated parade in Field. Leaving the Caisse Alliance parking lot at 6 pm, the procession made its way to the church, where Santa greeted kids for a celebration at the Knights of Columbus hall in the church basement. The weather was cold with drifting snow and winds, but the community spirit was not dampened as families lined the route and waved at Sparky, the Grinch and most enthusiastically, Santa himself.