Santa Claus will be making an early stop to Kirkland Lake, to officially kick start the town’s holiday season.
The Kirkland Lake Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the annual Santa Claus parade Friday night beginning at 7 p.m.
The parade will begin on Main Street at the corner of Popular Ave and Queen street and will proceed to Government Road West then it will turn up Duncan Ave, and end at the corner of Duncan Ave and Second Street.
The chamber’s marketing and project coordinator Ashley Fjelheim Johnson said this year’s parade will feature 20 floats which will end with the jolly old elf himself, Santa Claus.
This year’s theme is ‘Christmas dreams come true’.
“People will use their imaginations and we will see Christmas dreams come to life,” Fjelheim Johnson said.
She said she is looking forward to seeing what the people have in the parade.
Returning again this year, as the tradition in Kirkland Lake’s parade, there will be three volunteer judges set up randomly throughout the parade route and will be judging each float’s enthusiasm, creativity, and how well their float fits the theme.
The top three finishers will receive a cheque from the chamber to donate to the charity of their choice.
The first place winner will receive $250, second place will receive $150, and third place will receive $75.
The winners are expected to be announced on Monday.
Fjelheim-Johnson also said Living Faith Assembly will have hot chocolate stations setup throughout the parade route for people to enjoy.
In terms of safety, viewers are asked to stay on the sidewalks to allow the parade to go through and that if anyone does have any candy or other giveaways to let them come to you.
In December, the chamber will also be launching a new initiative to encourage residents to shop local called ‘Shopping local pays’.
“We want to promote local shops in Kirkland Lake during the busy holiday season to help our local economy,” Fjelheim-Johnson said.
The initiative will begin on December 1st and run until December 22.
There are over 15 local stores participating in the initiative and they will have ballots and ballot boxes set up at their stores and if you got to the store you can get a ballot to put your name in a draw for prizes from the local participating businesses.
Fjelheim-Johnson said the prizes are chamber dollars where if your name is drawn you get a gift certificate from the participating store of your choice.
The draws will be held on December 23.
“Anyone who visits a store can enter into the draw,” Fjelheim-Johnson said. “There are no purchases necessary to enter, just fill out a ballot and drop it in the ballot box.”
