Season’s greetings
Annual Santa Claus Parade kicks off the festive Yuletide season on a relatively balmy Sunday
Bluish skies and mild temperatures welcomed spectators to the annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade Sunday in downtown Vancouver.
Hundreds of thousands of often-soggy Vancouverites took advantage of a oneday break from the deluges of December to catch a glimpse of the jolly old elf at the Rogers Santa Claus Parade on Sunday.
Giant soccer balls literally kicked off the parade with just six months to go until the Women’s World Cup marches into town.
The kickoff to local Yuletide fun featured the annual cavalcade of marching bands and choirs, with Santa-hat-clad kids propped up on their dads’ shoulders to peer over the crowds lined sixdeep along Georgia Street.
With bluish skies and relatively balmy temperatures (10 C as opposed to the -6 C of a week earlier), this year’s grins on faces weren’t mixed with the freezing grimaces that sometimes greet Santa on his Vancouver visit.
The beasts looking to be thriving the most in Sunday’s downtown parade were the multiple-horse-themed attractions, including the West Coast Thunder show horses and their equine choreography, bedecked in green glitter with matching green ribbons braided into their tails.
A white horse-and-buggy with a City of Vancouver logo showed that Christmas is a time of peace even for politicians, with councillors Geoff Meggs of Vision Vancouver, Adriane Carr of the Greens and the NPA’s Elizabeth Ball smiling in apparent temporary camaraderie.
Dancers shimmied to everything from Yuletide carols — the shimmering green-and-golden girls of North Vancouver’s Shift Dance Academy — to some inner-city funk from the Boys and Girls Club.
“Over here!” shouted the little ones as the purple Purdy’s truck passed by, with elves of the purple persuasion handing out highly treasured handouts.
And so it went, from big, important men on big important trucks to tiny miniature horses hauling a miniature stagecoach.
And then, just as the little ones were growing impatient, came the man himself, high above the crowd flying in a red sleigh.
But what to their wondering eyes should appear, but two tiny elves behind the reindeer.
Yes, cute-as-a-button sister elves Ellianna, 11, and Anabelle, 9, outdid even Santa with their enthusiasm, grinning ear-to-ear as they flanked Santa on Georgia.
“I’m really excited,” smiled a somewhat awestruck Anabelle.
“It’s pretty cool,” chimed in a more-atease Ellianna.
And as Santa pulled his sleigh out into traffic, he let go with a hearty chuckle and his trademark, “Ho, ho, ho ... merry Christmas!”