A larger-than-life truck headed down University Avenue in Toronto, Ontario during the Santa Claus Parade on 15-November-2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - I haven't been able to bring myself to write an entry on the Santa Claus Parade this week, even though the event was last Sunday. It's just too early to kick off the "holiday" season. Sure, the last major holiday in Canada before Christmas, Remembrance Day, may have passed, but it's still more than a month to the Christian holiday, and I don't think a season of goodwill amongst people can last more than a month.
A young clown in Toronto's Santa Claus Parade apparently was looking for something in his bag on 15-November-2009
Somehow the commercialization of the parade also seemed more pronounced this year. Sure, companies have always sponsored and sometimes emblazoned the floats, but I honestly wondered this year if the kind of parents who don't let their children watch commercial television could even consider taking them to this parade.
The Queen's University performance squad formed a human pyramid on University Avenue in Toronto, Ontario during the Santa Claus Parade on 15-November-2009
It would be easy enough to present scenes from the parade and avoid the most commercial aspects--one could just avoid the floats and feature the marching bands representing local law enforcement and universities from near and far, and supplement that with scenes from the crowd.
A Lego hard hat was worn by a member of the University of Toronto Engineering Marching Band in the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto on 15-November-2009
Yet, some of the best scenes from the parade had a commercial element--a member of the University of Toronto Engineering Band made his hat from Legos. He may not have been sponsored, but there was a Lego-sponsored float in the parade with larger-than-life (instead of smaller-than-life) Lego figures. Is there a meaningful distinction between the two?
A Lego-sponsored float headed down University Avenue in Toronto, Ontario during the Santa Claus Parade on 15-November-2009
The parade isn't called the Santa Claus Parade just to avoid religious connotations or even because of the lost tradition of Santa climbing into the Eaton's store after the parade--it's called the Santa Claus Parade because he is the figure that everyone really wants to see. It's hard not to look at that in a benign way, and somehow that presence makes the whole thing more palatable.
Santa Claus greeted the spectators at Toronto's Santa Claus Parade on 15-November-2009
Full coverage of the Santa Claus Parade will appear in a future update to my photo site.
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