Santa visits city

A winter wonderland helped to bring in the holiday spirit even more when Santa Claus came to town.

Hundreds of anxious children waited along the sidewalk of Memorial Avenue in anticipation of the jolly old elf in red on Saturday. The Santa Claus parade had plenty of floats come down the long stretch of road from the Thunder Bay Auditorium.

But most young faces were on the lookout for Santa’s sleigh that brought up the rear of the parade.

James Hunt and his four-year-old-son Maverick watched for the decorated fire trucks at the parade and said the snow only helped to make it feel like the holiday season.

“(The snow) sort of sets the Christmas spirit,” Hunt said. “It’s Christmas time and that’s really the only reason to come and check it out. We try to get to the Christmas parade every year. This starts off the season.”

Ray Arney and his five-year-old-daughter Lily stood on the sidewalk near the entrance to Silvercity. He said the freshly fallen snow just made the experience feel even more like Christmas.

Arney said they came out to see Santa.

“I’m pretty pumped to see Santa,” Arney said. “It’s only a little bit chilly. We’re trying to make coming out to the parade a tradition. We’ve only been in Thunder Bay for a few years so we’re trying to get out to more stuff in Thunder Bay. Where we are from it’s so busy that it’s hard to see the parade. Now living here we have an opportunity to get in and see the parade.”

What made the parade special for Arney was that it made everyone happy and filled with the holiday spirit, he said.

“It’s all about family and fun right,” he said. “It’s good to get things going now in order to get ready for the big guy coming down the chimney.”

Debbie Hill and her eight-year-old-daughter Arianah walked in the parade in support of the Thunder Bay Shelter House. Arianah had volunteered to walk in the parade last year and this year her school was picked to hand out candy and collect the canned food along the way.

“It’s a great cause,” Hill said.

Arianah said she had fun but got a little tired along the way.