Santa couldn’t have asked for nicer weather for the 109th Toronto Santa Claus Parade.  It was about 50 degrees and sunny, almost too warm for our winter uniforms.  Several of us broke a sweat before the parade was over.

This is Kelley’s Heroes’ 21st trip to the Santa Claus Parade, and there are six Heroes who have made the trip all 21 times: Pully, Marcia, Scott, Josh, Kathy and Maria.

We’ve learned a lot in 21 years. The first year, we were scrambling to arrange a bus and hotel accommodations. Since it was our first cold weather parade, we had to choose and order warmer uniforms. We had to buy a few Christmas songs and practice them.

Now, we have quite the routine. We’ve stayed at the same hotel and had the same bus driver – Bob is wonderful – for several years, we’ve added many decorations and accessories to our uniforms and instruments, and we have more tunes in our Christmas library than we can carry in our lyres. Gail and Kelly took care of the arrangements; Pully, Margaret and Kathy helped with the shopping; Liz and Candy wrote a witty itinerary.

This year, we had special treat: the Santa Claus Parade coincided with the Cavalcade of Lights, and we had a spectacular view from our suite. Thousands of people gathered in Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall for live music, the lighting of the Christmas Tree and a fireworks finale.

We have another Christmas parade coming up on December 1; that will be Caledonia’s Hometown Holidays Parade.  Then we’ll take a little break over the winter months until we start 2013 with the St. Patrick’s Day Parades in Rochester and Buffalo.

Kelley’s Heroes is always looking to recruit new members for band and color guard. If you’re interested in joining, go to the homepage and click on Join.