2020 Toronto Santa Claus Parade Goes Prime-Time, Broadcast-Only for First Time

Toronto Santa Claus Parade

Toronto Santa Claus Parade

Santa Claus is moving to prime time in Toronto.

The city’s annual Santa Claus parade will go broadcast-only this year, with a two-hour show set for the evening of Saturday, Dec. 5.

 

Organizers say there will be more than 20 floats, as well as musical guests and the traditional “celebrity clowns.”

It’s the first time there will be no in-person attendance in the 116-year history of the event, which typically has crowds of thousands lining the downtown parade route.

Toronto has also announced the cancellation of the city’s popular Christmas market, as well as its annual New Year’s Eve bash in Nathan Phillips Square.

Mayor John Tory says the Santa Claus parade marks the unofficial start of the holiday season in Toronto.

“Despite the ongoing pandemic, we’ve found a way to make sure Santa Claus is still coming to town. I am pleased that this tradition will continue in a way that families can safely enjoy,” Tory said in a statement Friday.

 

The Original Santa Claus Parade will be broadcasted on CTV & CTV2 on Saturday, December 5th at 7pm.

 
   

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2020.

The Canadian Press

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    1. Jackie Leece

      It’s a shame that there has been such negativity towards what this year’s Santa Claus Parade was. The setting was absolutely beautiful. It would have been nice to see more Canadian performers but given our challenges that 2020 has brought us this was great! The greetings from children, well, Christmas is exciting, great to see a child’s perspective/comments and excitement for the season. Whether live or prerecorded someone has to pay for the event/parade. Advertising is unfortunately an unpleasant portion of any show on television or radio. The parade is aired and seen around the world, it isn’t all about Canada. The thing about live parades is that if you’re there you don’t hear all of the chatter/advertising and commentaries. Hopefully this is a one off and we never have to shelter again to the pleasure of seeing a parade live. I trust, even those who felt it was awful, still had a wonderful Christmas adhering to the guidelines set out by our scientists for covid 19. May we all be blessed with a better 2021. The light at the end of the covid tunnel is getting brighter. Good job on this parade.

      December 27, 2020 at 11:20 AM
    2. Dis Grumtled

      Wow, what an awful broadcast. I did not realize we were watching a parade because most of the broadcast was spent with the hosts babbling on and on. Much time was spent on greetings from kids we don’t know. Too much time spent on musical guests promoting their Christmas albums, and almost none of them were Canadian. What little time was devoted to actual the parade had a the hosts reading advertising copy during shots of the floats. The bands that were in the parade had a brief appearance. Why not show a substantial performance? It would have been better than all the musical guests with no relation to Toronto flogging their Christmas albums.

      December 7, 2020 at 7:59 AM

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