Whether it was your first time seeing the big man in red or your thousandth, the Christmas memories made by the Sudbury Santa Claus parades of years past have remained with us (and many of our readers) to this day.
Through their involvement as a spectator or as a participant, our readers had some of the tastiest, happiest, most shiver-inducing recollections locked into their psyches just waiting to be shared. So, let us now enjoy the parade of memories (yes, pun intended) which your fellow readers conjured up for us.
Reader Steve Kean remembers hanging out in the display window of the Kresge’s Department store on Elm Street to watch the parade. To this day, he remains grateful to a local service organization that was able to ensure a cozy spot for him and others to enjoy the sights.
“Thanks to the local Rotary Club,” he wrote, “who partnered with (Kresge’s) to give kids with disabilities like me a chance to see the parade in a warm place. Good times!”
Kean wasn’t the only one whose preferred place for appreciating the parade was Kresge’s. Lyndon Demkiw recalls that he had “watched (the parade) in the late 1950s in front of Kresge’s with (some) candy.”
Debb Trahan-Pero’s mother also allowed her children to enjoy the parade from the comfort of the indoors as she “worked at Singer Sewing Centre in the ’60s. We were so lucky to be able to go in the store, sit up on a ladder or stand on a table and view the parade over the crowd in front of us on the street.”
In the mid-1960s when Bill Bruins was five or six, and since his uncle was the manager of the Bank of Montreal on Durham Street, “my cousins, myself and a few friends were able to watch the parade in comfort from his second floor office … . He even brought in treats for us to munch on. I recall one of those years the parade theme was ‘Tonka Trucks’, and all sorts of heavy equipment from front-end loaders, dump trucks and scoop trams were featured.”
A reader on our website regaled us with a parade experience that stretched out over the entirety of the day.
“Growing up in Val Therese,” they wrote, “we would dress in snow suits (and) get into my father's old station wagon for the long drive to Sudbury (on not-the-best paved roads) to watch the noonish-time parade. A few years, we were (even) lucky to be able to be inside watching from the upstairs windows at Silverman's as my uncle worked there… . I remember the streets being filled with so many people watching the parade (with clowns handing out candies along their way). (The) Santa Claus float was my favourite.”
After the parade, as a “neighbour also worked at Frank's Delicatessen, we'd enjoy a hot chocolate afterwards.” Thus concluded the in-person portion of their day. “Then we'd rush home and watch the Toronto Santa Claus parade on TV.”
Gord Foerter is another reader who also remembers pairing the parade with that tastiest of all outdoor winter treats, “hot cocoa in a thermos waiting to see Santa.”
Stephen MacLean recalls that his favourite parade participants to watch as a kid were the upside-down clowns. “I would just marvel at their ability to walk on their hands so far on the cold ground,” he wrote. Unfortunately, their ruse was revealed much later, “that only the costume was upside down!”
Cuco Zubac “remember(s) how exciting it was, how many people crammed the sides of streets and how safe I still felt even when I wandered away … to get candy from the volunteers. My mom was tall and wore a bright red bowler hat every year so that after it was all over I could find her and my family again.”
Al Moncion’s big memory was “waiting with my cousins at our great-grandparents apartment (at St Anne's and Notre Dame). Once we saw the parade get to St-Jean-de-Brebeuf, we'd put on our jackets and run down.” Even in his excitement, he did have one issue with the parade — “the giant Shriners sword terrified me as a kid.”
Monica Sawyer remembers one year (possibly in the 1960s) when disaster struck, putting the parade in jeopardy, until resourcefulness won out.
“There was a fire where the Christmas floats were stored,” she recalls, “which resulted in the Santa Claus parade being made up of huge balloon characters and giant construction vehicles. The only float that was saved was Santa‘s sled and reindeer.”
Brenda Leuschen Farkas also remembers the balloon characters. “The only problem,” she added, “was it was bitterly cold that day and the balloons would barely inflate. So, the spectators basically froze waiting for the limp balloons to pass by.“
Lynn Simard “enjoyed (the parade) when it was held during the day. My favourite one was when Alvin and the Chipmunks (had) a float.” Though she was “too young to remember who had it (as) this was maybe early ’80s.” (Well I hope you see this Lynn, in 1986, Journal Printing placed a float in the parade featuring chipmunks singing, and playing a guitar and a saxophone).
Claude Mailloux recollections were, in a way, much more profound than others as he was able to watch his young self in a 1958 Santa Claus Parade video shared to YouTube by Terry Closs, a follower of the Sudbury Then and Now group.
As he writes, “I was 8 years old and … if you look towards the end of the parade there are clowns throwing donuts … I was one of the kids following the car with the clowns.”
You can check out that bit of historical video here.
Geoffrey Lee’s memories of the Santa Claus parades of the past are tied directly to an item from those days that is in his possession to this day.
“We had just arrived in Sudbury,” he wrote. “(We) watched the parade and (then) my Dad went into Bannon Bros and bought a Phillips tabletop shortwave radio. It is not working anymore but is a decoration at my late parents’ cottage.”
Not content with just remembering the parade, some readers even recalled how the entirety of the downtown came together as one big Christmassy wonderland for the occasion. As Dawn Burns Moore wrote, “(I) remember the huge beautiful decorations hung over the streets. All the lamp posts were decorated. It was magical.”
Another reader graduated from spectator to participant over the years. As they recalled, “in later years, 1966 I believe, I got to be in the parade holding a very heavy mace and leading the Lasalle Secondary High School Marching Band. (I) will never forget the bone-chilling cold as we were dressed in short skirts & tights.”
Frank Scott’s connection to the parade dates back to its very beginnings through his involvement with the Blue Saints Drum and Bugle Corps. As he remembers it, “that year (1958-the parade’s first) we led the parade, after that we were just in front of Santa.”
A third musical participant, Brenda Leuschen Farkas, found herself a part of the Lions Club Marching Band in the 1960s and participated in several parades.
“It wasn't too uncomfortable when we wore navy wool capes,” she recalls. “But when the uniform changed to white pants, a gold top and gold miner's helmet — ooh, it became uncomfortable in the cold. Still we marched and added (I think) rubbing alcohol to our valves to keep them from sticking in the cold.”
Former Sudbury Wolves goaltender Eric Niskanen (1975-76) wrote in to share that the entire team participated that year in the parade. “We all had our own car in the parade with our name on the car and waved to the fans — certainly a memory I will never forget!”
Bill Bruins, who shared a memory earlier in this story, also became an unexpected participant one year. As recalls, “In the late 70s, I was working at Roller Country on the Saturday morning of the parade. The Saturday morning session was specifically for parents and tots, and when no patrons showed up, it was easy to see they were all at the parade.
“The owner, Bob Wygant, loaded all the skating staff into his car and got us into the parade directly behind a band playing rock music, and we roller skated our way around the parade route. Great memories!”
Now, along with your memories of the parade, some of our readers honed in on a discussion of the Big Guy himself, with strong opinions on either side of the beard. For a great many years, Santa went by two pseudonyms when he was undercover here in the Nickel City: first Wilf Salo and then Nick Dellelce.
For Sylvia Fritz, “he (Wilf Salo) was the one and only Santa Claus, no one can convince me otherwise.” While Petra Casas “believed he was the real Santa and that all the others were men who just dressed up as him.”
Another reader remembered her father would take her and her brother to the parades, their “highlight was when Santa would wave and call out our names. (Wilf Salo, Sudbury's long loved Santa, was a friend of Dad's and would look out for us) … . He was Christmas for so many kids.”
However, for others, such as Stacey Newell, “he (Nick Dellelce) was the best Santa Claus Sudbury ever had” and for Danny Rovinelli, “(he) was the best Santa Claus ever” Or, as reader Frank Facendi called him: “The true Santa Claus.”
In the end, whichever way your feelings fell, the magic of the season flowed through both of these iterations of St. Nick, and the young (and young at heart) were all better off for having watched them and waved. As Bonnie O Hagan said, in taking the middle ground, there are “so many memories of Santa Nick and (Santa) Wilf … two of the best Santas” that Sudbury ever had.
One final memory pertaining to Santa Claus before we move on. Jean Risto wrote in about her aunt, Kay Hamer, who owned the Hollywood Beauty Salon next door to Silverman’s on Elm Street. She “was in charge of keeping Santa's (Wilf Salo’s) hair and beard in perfect form for the holidays. He always looked great.”
In a nod to the parade’s future, a few readers also commented on the evolution of the parade into an evening event, as the 20th century came to a close.
Reader Johan Montgomery reminds us that it was switched from a Saturday to a Sunday to create less traffic headaches. “Shutting down the downtown and re-routing traffic is easier at night (with) less vehicular traffic and disruption for businesses.”
Aly Vaillancourt believes that the change has lent itself to promoting the artistry of the Christmas lights. “I know when I was a kid in the late ’90s and early 2000s, it was at nighttime, too. It just made it so much nicer being able to see the lights.”
Reader Doris Rossman found that “it's so much nicer at night with the lights and (also, still) early enough for the kids to be awake.”
Holly Julian also concurred with this opinion. “It's awesome at night … (since we) can’t enjoy lights in the daylight.”
Well, dear readers, Santa Claus is waving and ho-ho-hoing as his float slowly fades into the distance, bringing this edition of Memory Lane to an end. Thank you for sharing with us your multicoloured memories of Christmas parade’s past.
I hope that (as most memories do) they have brought you tidings of comfort and joy. Because, as Linus once said, “That's what Christmas is all about...”
Merry Christmas Greater Sudbury and we’ll see you again next year for another stroll down memory lane.
Oh, fine, here’s one more parade video because we just can’t get enough of them.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.