Parade death shakes Nova Scotia town

A small Nova Scotia town has come together in grief after a little girl was killed during the annual Santa Claus parade in Yarmouth on Saturday evening.

What was supposed to be a fun holiday celebration turned to tragedy when the girl, aged four, fell underneath a moving parade float while running alongside it during the procession, police have said.

She was rushed to a local hospital by paramedics but was pronounced dead a short time later.

“It’s a tragedy beyond anything anyone could have imagined,” said Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood on Sunday. “Most important, I think, is the community reaching out to each other, trying to comfort each other.”

Mood said while the young girl’s family is first in her mind, she is also thinking about the first responders and the people — several of whom were children — who witnessed the accident, which happened on one of the town’s main thoroughfares.

She said a grief specialist will speak with some of the people dealing with the loss.

Condolences are pouring in on social media, with some encouraging Yarmouth residents to help support the girl’s grieving parents.

The incident hit home for Chellesey Lusk, a Yarmouth woman who lost her infant son to SIDS in January, who said she wants to use her own experience with grief to help the family.

“The community really pulled together and helped us out tremendously,” recalled Lusk, 29. “We wanted to be able to give back to somebody else in need, so the family knows they don’t have to be alone in this.”

Lusk has been asking residents to make donations to help the girl’s parents with her funeral costs as soon as arrangements are made with a local funeral home, likely next week.

“If we can help relieve one struggle that comes along with child loss, we feel it helps people to know there’s people there to help them,” she said.

Sean Mills, a Yarmouth fisherman and Lusk’s cousin-in-law, also took to Facebook to ask that people be there to support the little girl’s family.

“I don’t know their financial situation and I can’t pretend to know what they feel, but I just feel that not everybody would be prepared for a funeral, especially a funeral for a child,” he said.

A witness to the incident described a scene of terror that shattered the small port town’s holiday celebration.

Vance Webb said he noticed the float stop and heard screaming. He said the entire scene descended into “mayhem” as people realized what had happened.