Christmas cheer is something Chuck Labelle takes seriously.
Or, maybe not seriously.
Playfully, maybe?
“I never really grew up and don’t have to,” he said with a chuckle.
Labelle, a celebrated local Franco-Ontarian musician, is serving as the musical grand marshall for the Sudbury Santa Claus Parade on Saturday.
Despite recording six Christmas albums over the years and performing approximately 750 Christmas-themed concerts, Saturday marks Labelle’s first-ever parade appearance.
“The grand marshall sets the pace for the parade. That’s a big responsibility,” he told Sudbury.com during organizers’ final media event on Tuesday.
“We’re the lead, so we’re the first off the line and we’ve got to create a Christmas atmosphere, with the music, with the excitement going on. … To lead it off is quite the honour. I don’t take it lightly. I’m very fortunate.”
Accompanied by a backing track, Labelle will be singing and playing his guitar live on the lead float while fending off the Grinch.
“It’s going to be fun for the kids,” he said.
Keeping things inclusive, Labelle is performing a bilingual set, “mixing them up just to have fun with them,” while giving people plenty of lines to sing along to.
Fireworks will kick off Saturday’s festivities at 5:15 p.m., and the 68-float parade led by Labelle will begin their trek through downtown Sudbury at 5:30 p.m., beginning with a westward trip down Ste-Anne Road from Notre Dame Avenue.
(The parade will continue south down Elgin, east on Elm, south on Durham, east on Larch, north on Lisgar, east on Elm, and north on Notre Dame to its conclusion at Ste-Anne Road, where it started. A full map of the parade is available by clicking here.)
Sudbury Santa Claus Parade vice-chair Rick Carr, who is in charge of marshaling, urged people to arrive early.
Parking will not be permitted along the parade route, and roads will be closed at 3 p.m. until one hour after the parade has passed.
Floats line up along Notre Dame Avenue’s southbound lanes, which will be closed even earlier, beginning at 1 p.m. between Kathleen Street and Ste-Anne Road.
Tuesday’s event saw organizers unveil this year’s Santa Claus float, whose big addition is an animatronic Abominable Snowman, as popularized by the 1964 stop-motion animated television special “Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer.”
“Every year is special,” Sudbury Santa Claus Parade chair Brian Howe said. “Every year there’s something new and different added.”
Past mistakes are corrected each year to help make the annual event better and better, with this year’s big change prolonging the parade by approximately one kilometre of viewing space.
“We want to have a route that’s good for viewing for small children and everyone has an opportunity to view the parade,” Howe said. “The people who participate in it put a lot of work into their floats and they deserve to be seen.”
As for who’s playing Santa in this year’s parade, Howe, with a distinct twinkle in his eye, said, “Santa is Santa.”
“Only the real Santa would come to the Santa Claus Parade in Sudbury,” Howe said with a knowing smile.
Before the parade, YMCA of Northeast Ontario will serve hot chocolate and cookies at 140 Durham St., from 2-4 p.m.
This year’s theme is Christmas movies, and more information can be found on the parade’s official website by clicking here, or viewing their Facebook page by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke is a reporter at Sudbury.com.