Dear Editor:
The Fergus Santa Parade committee would like to thank the many who contributed to the success of the Fergus Santa Claus Cruze on Dec. 5.
First, we would like to thank the citizens of Fergus who turned out in huge numbers to welcome Santa to Fergus. We know he was pleased to see all of you. You contributed a tremendous amount of food for the Centre Wellington Food Bank. Volunteers at the food bank stayed late to receive the donations.
The committee would also like to thank The Grand 101, the Wellington Advertiser, and R&R Printing for their help with promoting this event. It was clear as we traveled the route that a very large percentage of the population knew Santa was paying a visit to town, and came out in droves to make Santa welcome.
The OPP who led the parade, the Centre Wellington Fire Rescue, the Centre Wellington Roads Department, and the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health unit all made a contribution towards the success of the event.
We would also like to thank Jim Sobol of Sobol Excavating for pulling Santa, Jeremy Woods of ICS computers and digital DJ’s for the sound system, Little Angels Development for the use of their parking lot to stage the parade, and Rob Blinkhorn of Bristol Truck Rentals for the vehicles to collect donations to the food bank.
We must give a big thank you to the members of the Lions, Optimist and Kinsmen clubs who walked many miles along with family and friends to collect the food donations. Those volunteers showed the community what it means to be part of a service organization and serve your community.
The committee would like to apologize to those people who waited a long time to see Santa; it was our first attempt at this type of parade and the timing was not as precise as we would have liked over a 42km route.
Also, to those who were on the publicized route, and did not see Santa come by, some incorrect turns were made and some streets were missed. For this we apologize, and hope that for 2021 we can hold the usual parade, complete with bands, floats, dancers and baton twirlers, along the usual route.
Merry Christmas to all, from the Fergus Santa Parade Committee.
Jim Dandy,
Parade chair