BY DUCK PATERSON
Sunday was an exciting day for hundreds of Ladysmith children, an exciting day for the members of the Ladysmith Fire Rescue department, and an exciting day for Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The annual firefighters’ Santa parade meandered through the streets of Ladysmith and the Diamond on Dec. 17, stopping at various locations giving children and adults a chance to visit with the two North Pole celebrities.
For more than 50 years, fire department volunteers have hosted the event and Santa has always managed to make it down to spend the afternoon with local children. The volunteers spend all day the day before decorating two flat-deck trucks, supplied by Coastal Trucking in Ladysmith, with Santa’s house and lights and trees to make a festive display.
On the day of the event, the festive trucks and fire department apparatus headed out to La Rosa Gardens and Oyster Harbour Seniors Community, so the Clauses had an opportunity to visit with the seniors and staff at those two facilities. After that, the parade showed up to a very large crowd gathered at Kinsmen-Brown Drive Park, where Santa and Mrs. Claus took time to chat with all the children and hand out sweets and mandarin oranges.
The parade made eight stops before heading back to the firehall after 9 p.m. According to department spokesperson Dan Gillard, the event drew nearly 450 youngsters.
“The guys love it,” he said, “and we even get support from their families, many of whom come along on the floats for the whole thing.”
Fire chief Chris Geiger said the department’s 25 members “get almost as excited as the kids do.”
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