Santa Claus is coming to town again this year with the help of a local business organization’s annual Christmas Parade.
MABA (Marine Area Business Association) and the Lion’s Club are again working together to bring the annual event to downtown Powell River.
“The parade is all about Santa Claus,” said organizer and MABA president Cathy MacDonald. “Santa arrives and he’s the last in the parade—the kids love that.”
MacDonald said the parade has been going on for many years and she has found that weather generally has been good for the event.
The parade consists of between 25 to 30 entries that are judged for various categories, including most festive and most original. A wide variety of the community participates in the parade and entries always include firefighters with a fire truck and singers from the Powell River Chorus.
Parade participants gather on Westview Avenue and then walk along Marine Avenue to Alberni Street. The parade starts at 3 pm on Sunday, December 8 and lasts about 45 minutes.
“We’d like more people to come down to Marine to shop locally,” she said.
Merchants along Marine will be decorating their shops as part of MABA’s Light Up Marine contest and Santa will draw winners for the organization’s Christmas Stocking prize after the parade. “Everyone is invited to come down to Marine to enter this week,” she said. Top prize is a gift certificate from Marine area merchants worth about $1,000, she said. Entry forms for the draw can be found at all 30 MABA member shops. For more information about MABA, readers can call MacDonald at 604.483.9454.
