Santa Claus Parade

The past weekend was the Santa Clause Parade in downtown Toronto. I remember going to the parade several years ago with my parents waiting out in the frigid weather to do my brother’s photography assignment (Ohh how ethical!). I had no idea how to use the purely-manual Canon FT and so my dad told me to do this and that to get the needle to hover in the middle.

The TTC going south was packed, though not as bad as Boston on St.Patrick’s Day. I got onto the street level only to find that the crowd is about 8 person deep and I could only catch glimpses of the parade on my tippy-toes.


Well I got creative and decided to break some rules. I hopped some fences, dodged some security cameras, and managed to find a spot where I can watch the parade from up-top. I had initially wanted to get more up-close shots but this new perspective was also a lot of fun.


The parade was filled with marching bands and fancy floats, but I think I prefer the randomness of the Boston St Patrick’s Parade! The children really enjoyed the parade and I can see how there is still the magic of Christmas working through them.

It is bad when I have several scenarios ready for when I get caught by security, but none of them seem very convincing.
1) Me no english (do the peace sign with my fingers to be more convincing)…..probably get busted at some point and get in even more trouble.
2) “I didn’t know I can’t climb that fence and sit on the edge of your roof”….probably won’t humor them with my lack of common sense.
3) RUN….probably end up on the newspaper with me falling on top of a bunch of children
Just realized that there would be no one to bail me out since everyone else is in Hong Kong at that time.