Santa Claus is coming to Fort Frances on Saturday, Nov. 29, and his grand entry will be heralded by a parade of floats from businesses and organizations from across the Rainy River District at 5 p.m.
After being hosted by the Fort Frances BIA for a number of years, the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances took over running the annual spectacle in 2021. That first parade came together on pretty short notice with the club taking over in October and the parade taking place on Nov. 27, 2021. The Kiwanians have run the show ever since.
Parade committee chair Brad Scoyne has been in touch with Santa Claus to confirm his visit on Nov. 29, and said Santa is very excited for his stop in Fort Frances.
Karla-Marie Rogozinski is part of the organizing committee, along with other members of the local Kiwanis chapter. She says there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into preparing for the event.
“I don’t know that people realize how much work actually goes into a parade,” she said.
“Because you have to start by getting a licence and to get a licence from the Town of Fort Frances you have to get insurance, then you can proceed.”
Parade committee member Dixie Robar says lots of help is required to help make the parade run smoothly.
“It takes a team, we ask our members to come out and help us,” she said.
“Even just guiding people into the lot and making sure everyone is safe. And then we have a lot of people walking [along the route] to make sure everyone is safe.”
Anyone interested in joining the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances can contact them via Facebook or ffkiwanis@gmail.com. They meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Fort Frances Public Library in the Shaw room.
“We do lots of things,” Robar said.
“It’s not just this, I have to admit I wasn’t too thrilled about the fishing derby this summer. but it turned out so well, and they had so much fun, and they did such a good job. I just went and manned one of the tables because I wasn’t touching any fish. That’s not for me. But it’s funny how something you don’t think you’ll have fun at is the stuff that you really have fun at.”
While the parade was staged initially at the parking lot of the Fort Frances Public Library, the tight space proved a challenge and last year they moved the staging area to the Shevlin Woodyard, which worked out better for organization purposes.
Rogozinski says many community organizations and companies have come together already to support the event.
“George Armstrong Company has donated [the use of] a huge light to light up the woodyard so we can see what’s going on,” she said.
“Then Fort Frances Power Corporation stores the float for us, because it’s all fenced in, then Leon Degagne lets us go in and decorate at his place, so we can do it and keep it overnight there and then pull it out the next day for the parade.”
The Power Corporation also donated a surplus trailer recently to replace the trailer for Santa’s float, which had become unsafe.
Beyak Automotive group has also sponsored a truck to pull Santa’s float with.
The Kiwanis Club has also received a grant from Tbaytel which they’ve used to help improve the parade.
“We received a grant again this year from Tbaytel, their only request is that we give them recognition,” Rogozinski said.
“So this year we purchased a big speaker with a microphone and headset for Santa Claus from Sight & Sound, but it can benefit all of our programs, the fishing derby, that’s going to be an annual thing, Easter Egg-stravaganza, music bingos and other big events for the community.”
They’re also able to use the gran to advertise for the parade and improve Santa’s float.
The parade will once again start at the woodyard and proceed down Scott. St. For ease of traffic and to arrange the parade floats, the Kiwanis club is asking all floats to enter the woodyard through the Front St. gates near the Sorting Gap Marina so everyone can enter from one side and exit onto Scott St. after being arranged in order.
As with last year, the first section of the parade will be a sensory friendly zone with fewer flashing lights and no loud sirens.
“We had a lot of positive feedback,” Rogozinski said.
“Last year was the first year we did the sensory zone and the year before we asked for feedback from the community and that was requested because there are a lot of children in the community with sensory issues.”
The lights and sirens from emergency vehicles which lead the parade and can be interspersed throughout the lineup can be a lot for some community members to handle all at once, so the block of Scott St. between Reid Ave. and Butler Ave will be designated for fewer flashing lights and lower volumes so those sensitive can also enjoy the parade.
While the club has tried other events following the parade in the past like a tree lighting and photos with Santa, they didn’t have a lot of success with those events and the downtown BIA and Chamber of Commerce are organizing events with a Christmas tree lighting and other activities this year.
The Kiwanis club is holding a colouring contest which will be delivered to local children through Fort Frances schools due back the day before the parade on Friday Nov. 28 and winners chosen after they’re all collected from the schools and McDonald’s is sponsoring the prize.
There is no theme for the parade, all entries are asked to be fun and festive and as brightly lit as they can. The Kiwanis Club does ask that none of the other floats include someone dressed up as Santa Claus as the real thing will be riding on their float at the end.
For safety reasons, parade participants are asked not to throw candy as it can be dangerous for spectators to try and collect it off the ground, especially in the dark. They ask that floats have members walking along the route to hand out candy to those on the ground instead.
Any group, organization, business or individual interested in entering a float in the parade should contact fortfrances.santa@gmail.com.
