Oh to be a kid ...
… hoisted high above the crowd
The best — and perhaps only — place to get a view of Sunday’s Santa Claus Parade from the crowded corner of Howe and Georgia streets was atop the shoulders of a willing adult.
But that prime vantage point also came with an important responsibility: relaying the highlights of the parade to those below.
“Now I see a fire truck,” one little boy told his dad, whose only view was of spectators in front of him. “I’ll take a picture so you can see.”
The corner by the Hotel Georgia was perhaps the busiest place to watch the parade, with crowds measuring 10 people deep in places. Some people had thought ahead and brought telescoping selfie sticks so they could hold their phones and cameras above the throng, recording video mementoes of an event they couldn’t actually see.
After a little trial and error, five-year-old Krishay Bhindi of Surrey was standing comfortably on top of a newspaper box, leaning on parents Neil and Shital for extra support.
“We were in the crowd and we had to get out. He was suffocating,” Shital said.
Now Krishay was narrating what he saw, and admitting that he was having “a little bit” of fun.
All along Georgia Street, children were standing on window ledges, planters and even fire hydrants, their faces lighting up as they spotted the horses that accompanied the Vancouver Police Department and RCMP contingents. There were “oohs” and “aahs” and even some “who’s” as a pair of giant soccer balls bounced along with the parade.
Down on the ground, however, a few nerves were fraying. Just a single float had passed by when a child could be heard asking, “Hey Mom, can we just go home now?”
Christmas shoppers who were unprepared to meet up with the parade route muttered under their breath as they tried to squeeze through the crowd on their way home, a few failing to suppress profanities in the presence of so many children.
But a few blocks to the west, near the parade’s starting point at Georgia and Broughton streets, the crowd was far less overwhelming, and everyone — kids, adults and even an English bulldog in a tight- fitting Christmas sweater — had a clear view as the star of the parade coasted by. It was the man from the North Pole in the flesh, riding atop a float from Rogers and waving at the eager faces below.
That sight alone seemed to be enough to make the experience worthwhile for everyone. “I saw Santa Claus!” a little girl told her mother, whose smile was just as big as all the kids’ around her.