Old Town welcomes visitors for Christmas
Allison Lambert has been coming to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Christmas Parade since she was five years old.
Never mind the fact she now lives in Stoney Creek, there’s just something about the parade through the Old Town that’s magical.
“It reminds me of my childhood,” she said. “It’s a beautiful town to celebration Christmas in.”
Lambert wasn’t the only out-oftowner to take in the annual parade Saturday alongside the thousands of locals who got into the holiday spirit. Connor McFaul came with his family from Welland. This year is a very special Christmas for young Connor — it’s his very first one.
Kyle and Sydney Beyer-Roy, meanwhile, came from Toronto to take in the parade with their family and grandparents, who live in Niagara.
About a hundred entries wound their way through the heritage district celebrating all aspects of the season, including childhood fun such as the Grinch and drumlines and bands providing a mixture of holiday music. Organizers this year said they were putting a focus on music, and that was evident with such groups as the Streetsville Pipe and Drum band, E.L. Crossley’s student band and the Top Hat Marching Band dancing and singing their way through the parade route.
Lambert said it still feels like it did when she was a child.
“There’s that small-town feel of it,” she said.
This year she brought her son Isaac to the parade to take in the magic.
Of course, no Christmas parade would be complete without Santa, and he didn’t disappoint, closing out the parade. He wished the visitors, old and young, a Merry Christmas, reminding families to leave out a special treat for him when he visits their homes a few short weeks from now.