Santa Claus Parade 2018

This year's Santa Claus Parade in Toronto was the largest ever

Toronto's original Santa Claus Parade is still going strong at the ripe old age of 114 – stronger than ever, in fact, like one of those centenarian​​​​​​s on the news who credit their longevity to whisky and nitrates.

Thousands of kids (and kids-at-heart) made it out to this year's annual Christmas kick-off event in downtown Toronto yesterday for what turned out to be the largest parade of its kind to date.

The event's executive director, Clay Charters, confirmed to The Star on Sunday that this year's parade was "our largest Santa Claus parade" in Toronto so far, based on the number of floats.

Previous to 2018, the highest recorded number of floats in the parade's history was 30, so, as Charters says, "we’re two floats longer than there's ever been before."

Add in 21 marching bands, along with thousands of dancers, clowns and people in animal costumes, and we had quite the spectacle moving through Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

"Get in children!" says Santa. "We're going shopping."

Lead photo by

Elaine Simionato Hayashi


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Doug Ford just got even tougher on Ontario bike lanes with new measures

Toronto's $27 billion Ontario Line just crossed its biggest construction milestone so far

Rare Canadian gold coin sells for over $1.5 million

Toronto ranked among the top 100 best cities in the world for 2025

A full list of all the items included in Canada's holiday GST cut

Liquid soap sold at stores across Canada recalled due to contamination

Canadians to get GST cut on groceries and new $250 rebate ahead of holidays

Snow is finally coming to southern Ontario and here's when it will hit