Canadian Yachting October 2016 - 57

R. John Garside AP
In the month of November and the first
few weeks of December many communities across Canada stage a local Christmas
parade. Being from Toronto I was familiar
with the big parade put on by the Eaton's
Department Store chain which featured lots
of big floats, and bands and took place on
a mid-November weekend during the daytime. It was considered to be "the" Santa
Claus parade of the season, and everything
else was just less.
However, now that I live in the small town
of Picton in Prince Edward County I have
found out that there is another Santa Claus
parade, not as large of course, but in many
ways much better. Each year on the last Friday of November the small neighbouring village of Bloomfield puts on its own parade.
And it is most unique! First of all you can only
enter it if you are a local, and it happens at
night! This results in all of the floats being
made locally, and manned by the local population, and being at night, there are lots and
lots of lights!
This local Prince Edward County tradition has been carried on for many years and
during this time the local Squadron, Prince
Edward, has always participated in the parade using a well decorated towed boat as
its float. This year was no exception. So being a member of the Squadron's Bridge I too
got to participate, and this year joined in the
parade festivities.
Our Membership Officer Dave Kleinsteuber is the current custodian of the vessel
we use and early in November the plans
are laid for the upcoming parade. The first

thing Dave has to do is to pump out all
the water in the boat as the one we currently use is a long retired unit that is only
used for the parade and has not been in
the water for many, many years. Once all
the water is pumped out the boat is then
carefully placed on Dave's sturdy twin axle
trailer and secured. Now being an old cuddy
cabin sailboat has lots of advantages for us
as there is a convenient spot to sit while the
boat moves along the parade route, and the
mast and spars allow for lots of lights, flags,
and advertising banners to be displayed promoting safe boating to the passing crowds.
This year on the Wednesday before the
parade our new Squadron Commander Michael Pothier, Dave Kleinsteuber, and I gathered at Dave's farm and began the decorating part of the job. About twenty years ago
the previous farm owners planted several
acres of what they thought was a Christmas
Tree farm. Over the years the trees grew but
no one bothered trimming them or thinning
them so this small entanglement of conifer
trees became the primary source for the lower part of our float's decoration. With a chain
saw in hand Dave carefully cut us a supply of
conifer boughs which we then loaded onto
his trusty farm truck and proceeded to use
to fill in the gaps around the trailer's bed and
the boat's keel. When we were finished the
boat certainly looked like it was floating on a
sea of green!
With that part of the job done the next step
was the positioning of the various signs and
banners we have to promote safe boating to
the public. These are carefully displayed from
the outside walls of the cabin and lashed to
the rigging. Then the real challenge came,

installing the over 1,000 lights that provide
the "punch"! Each year a few more strings
of lights are added and before the adornment
can take place each set of lights has to be
checked and then strung out in a nice straight
line. The placement of the lights is critical as
we do want to be seen, but we also want our
message to get across, so Dave is the expert in
the light deployment and after about an hour
or so everything is in place and ready to be
tested. The lights we use are the usual outdoor Christmas lights so we need a reliable
120 volt supply. This is where a good generator is very handy. This year Dave's was okay
but not 100% so we decided that having the
lights flashing off and on during the parade
was not a good option so another generator
was borrowed on the day we made our way
to the parade!
Soon the Friday evening arrived and being
the operator of the borrowed tow vehicle I
insisted that we set off in lots of time for the
7:30 p.m. parade start time. So off we went,
with a well-lit up boat in tow and moving at
a sedate 20 kph we arrived at the staging
area of the parade. For the next thirty minutes or so we all checked out not only our
own beautiful float but some of the others as
well. Then exactly at 7:30 p.m. the local police car siren sounded and the annual Bloomfield Christmas Parade moved out! The pace
was not fast, just a walk, and over the next
hour or so our float moved through the town
glowing away and at the same time promoting safe boating to the hundreds of people
standing on the street corners. It was most
entertaining and lots of fun too!

www.canadianyachting.ca

THE PORT HOLE

Promoting Safe Boating in a Parade

http://www.canadianyachting.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting October 2016