Santa Claus waves to children on the street Thursday evening in Redcliff during the first night of the Santa Claus Is Coming To Town parade series, which runs through Tuesday in neighbourhoods across Medicine Hat.--NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Santa’s on his way.
Jolly old St. Nick began a special five-night Santa Claus Is Coming To Town parade on Friday evening in Redcliff and Crescent Heights – a festive tour of local neighbourhoods with the goal of spreading Holiday cheer and drumming up donations for the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund.
“I think we’re excited to bring some light during these trying times for our community,” said Santa Claus Fund executive director Deanna Doerksen. “We’ve had a record number of families that we’ve served this year – and a record number for four years in a row, so we are definitely seeing an increase. When it’s all said and done we’re expecting the increase to be 30 per cent over last year. We’re just seeing lots of new families that are needing a hand up this season.”
With record demand to meet, Doerksen says she received a phone call from members of IG Wealth Management a few weekends ago offering to host a special Santa parade in support of the fund.
“IG Wealth has always been a great supporter of our organization,” said Doerksen. “Just a few short weeks ago they phoned, on a Saturday night, and said, ‘Hey we want to put on a Santa Claus Is Coming To Town parade in support of your organization.’ They put it together very quickly. We’re just really excited about the event and we appreciate the support.”
Members of the Redcliff RCMP and Medicine Hat Fire Department will also be out taking part in the parade. Assistant deputy fire chief Chad Eakins says COVID regulations prevent them from having too many vehicles as part of the parades, however the fire department will be there with an engine, not to mention Santa Claus and a truck for donations.
“We’re always looking for ways to give back to the community, but given our current circumstance, it means a lot this year that we’re able to participate. We’re quite excited that they reached out,” said Eakins. “It’s essentially a Santa drive-by for kids to be able to wave … and they are collecting some donations for the Santa Claus Fund.”
Those donations will be collected in a truck by a group of Christmas elves. Anyone else looking to donate can do so at mhsantafund.com.
“Folks can pass the elves monetary or toy donations and we will graciously accept them on behalf of the charity,” said Doerksen.
The Santa Claus is Coming to Town parade runs each of the next four evenings from 5:30-7:30 p.m., concluding Tuesday. Each night the parade will visit a different part of the city. Visit the Santa Claus Fund’s Facebook page for a full schedule and nightly parade routes.
