ROCKWOOD – The Rockwood Farmer’s Santa Claus Parade of Lights is returning for its 31st year on Dec. 14 at 7pm.
The 23 floats of farming equipment will light up the streets beginning near the Rockwood OPP station.
The route continues straight before making a right turn onto Highway 7, turning right onto 4th line and ending at Brander Farms.
“There’s a lot of good parking on the 4th line in the fields,” said parade committee member Glenn Storey.
He added that is one of the best places to see the parade because there are no street lights.
The parade route will have streets closed until the floats make their way through, lasting about an hour from the start of the parade.
“The Rockwood Lions will have a booth on the 4th Line where they’ll be selling warm drinks and snacks,” said Storey.
He added that when the Rockwood Parade of Lights began over three decades ago, having parades at night wasn’t as common as it is now.
“Obviously night parades are really popular now. But we were one of the very first in Ontario,” Storey said.
A lot of planning goes into the annual Rockwood Christmas tradition, and the parade committee gets together with all parade participants a few days prior to the event to go over all the details.
“I just like to see all the new little faces and how excited they are to see the farm equipment and see Santa,” Storey said.
“Every year there’s a new crop of children that haven’t seen it before and they get so excited. It’s very rewarding.”
