Santa Claus is coming to town on Friday in Haliburton Village.
Jim Frost, with the Haliburton and District Lions Club, says the festivities start at the Town Tree in front of the Village Barn on Highland Street. At 5:30 p.m., there will be caroling led by local musician Gord Kidd, with a tree-lighting ceremony at 6:00.
Frost says the parade itself starts at 6:30, with upwards of 45 floats processing down Hyland Street in the theme of “A Storybook Christmas,” focused on children and stories of Christmas.
“We have a lot of entries, and some of them have kids on their float—reading under a tree, reading in bed, that sort of thing,” says Frost. “They haven’t told us everything that they’re doing, but the floats are always imaginative, so we’ll see. Looks like it’s going to be a good day. Lots of light, lots of music.”
Frost says that’s more floats and a bigger turnout than last year, adding Canada Post will be collecting letters for Santa along the parade route.
“We’re looking forward to a very good night—it’s always very magical,” says Frost. “Night parades are very special. We started this about 15 years ago. It’s just so festive and everybody’s on Main Street. It’s not a long parade, and that’s one of the benefits, because everybody’s together in town.”
After the parade, the annual Highlands Christmas Shindig starts in the Haliburton Legion at 8:30 p.m., raising money for not-for-profit Fuel for Warmth.