Parade routes in Stratford are shifting this year.
On Tuesday night, Stratford City Council heard from delegate Bob Malcolmson of the Kinsmen Club of Stratford, which organized Canada Day and Santa Claus Parade of Lights in the past.
“I can assure you organizing parades is not a money making proposition for the club,” Malcolmson told council. “Kin did it because it was important to the citizens of Stratford. By giving them the opportunity to celebrate and promote their organizations.”
Malcolmson has been active as a Kinsmen since he retired in 2017. The club itself has been in the Festival City since it was chartered in 1945.
As Malcolmson explained to council, the Kinsmen have been hosting the Canada Day and Santa Claus Parade of Lights for almost 25 years, with the exception of the last few years when the pandemic hit and the routes were changed.
In May of last year, due to staff concerns regarding using main roads - Ontario, Huron, and Erie Streets - for a parade, council voted to only use local streets for the parades. Using Ontario, Huron, or Erie Streets required approval from the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and had more public safety risks associated with them, a staff report stated.
Malcolmson and the Kinsmen argued that putting parades on local streets was unsafe and limited spectator parking and viewing.
After the news broke of the changes and the Kinsmen’s decision to withdraw, Malcolmson said they had over 300 impassioned responses on Facebook, many of which expressed concern for the change.
The recommendation presented to council was that future parade routes continue on local roads as they did last year with a few exceptions: a ‘brief’ closure of the Ontario Street and Erie Street intersection for the Remembrance Day parade, and permission for the Santa Claus parade to use its traditional route downtown, subject to MTO approval.
Coun. Mark Hunter called the recommendation a “fair compromise.”
“Most of the problems we have are with people not obeying closures and other nuisance issues arise around the Canada Day Parade when people are travelling, coming home from the beach, to Kitchener, or whatever … it's a problem.”
Coun. Cody Sebben did not support the motion, saying that he agrees with Malcolmson’s presentation and that parade routes should return to their original routes downtown.
Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach inquired about the Kinsmen’s participation this year, since the Santa Claus parade will return to its traditional route downtown. Tim Wolfe, director of community services, said that other groups are already slated to host this year’s parades. She made the suggestion that staff reach out to the Kinsmen and see if there’s a possibility to work with them on future parades.
Coun. Brad Beatty argued that the Remembrance Day parade is the most important of the year. Where the recommendation says “brief closure,” he wants to ensure that the parade has as much time as needed and that process isn’t rushed.
Coun. Harj Nijjar echoed that sentiment. The motion passed with only one opposed.
Part of the motion also required any future cost estimates to be included in future budget considerations. As noted in the management report attached to the agenda, last year the cost of the Santa Claus and Canada Day parades were both a little over $2,000. Previous years which used Huron, Ontario, and Erie Streets varied between $7,500 and $11,000.