The kids and teens here at the Boys and Girls Club made us proud once again! Saturday morning was the Santa Clause Parade downtown and the theme this year was “Traditional Christmas Stories”. The BGC Keystone Leadership group worked together to create a float and design costumes to fit the story “The Island of Misfit Toys”. Our Variety Club bus was adorned with reindeer antlers, ears, a big red Rudolf nose and even a little tail. We kept warm by playing in the snow piles and drinking hot chocolate until the 10:30 Wake Up Santa event.
While waiting for Santa to arrive on his giant semi-truck sleigh, the kids watched a band of elves rock out in the parking lot. One of the elves even let our kids play his drum! When Santa arrived, the crowd screamed his name until he woke up and was interviewed by B100 Radio.
On the way back to our reindeer bus, the kids stopped to pet miniature ponies and check out the other floats. They were not discouraged to find that we did not win first place, as the best part of the day was about to come!
Walking down the street in front of hundreds of spectators, the kids and youth sang Christmas carols and handed out candy; Christmas tunes pumped out of the bus. It should have come as no surprise that their favourite part of the day was giving the candy to other children in the crowd as we passed by. Despite their cold bodies and wet feet, the kids were smiling, laughing and carrying the Boys and Girls Club banner with pride!
I would like to give a special thank you everyone who volunteered their time to make this day so much fun!
