Toronto’s Annual Santa Claus Parade is a yearly traditional that originally started on December 2, 1905 by the Eaton’s chain of department stores, and had just a single float. It now has over 25 floats, 24 bands, and 1,700 participants (Wikipedia).

With that much history lets take the Vintage Inn Time Travel Bus and see what past parades looked like from the 1920s-1950s.

Note: Vintage Fashion Lovers-The crowd pictures when you look close enough have some lovely vintage fashion.

Vintage Photos of Toronto’s Santa Claus Parade

1920s Photos

Santa and his Reindeer on the final float of the parade.

Further Reading: Images Of Toronto Christmas Seasons Gone By

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The crowd of 1920s parade viewers. The Cloche hats and coats are just lovely in these pictures.

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1930s Photos

History Note: To escape from the realities of the Great Depression, families pressed their ears to the radio. Starting in the early 1930s, CFRB radio began broadcasting a month of dramatic programming that followed Santa’s journey from the North Pole to Toronto. By the time the Parade took place, children and adults alike were beyond excitement. Santa brought with him a magic and mystery that gave everyone hope (Source).

1930s Santa and His Reindeer float.

History Fact: In 1939 when the Second World War brought on shortages, organizers were forced to make the elaborate costumes out of paper (A Century of Memories by Citynews).

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I love that the road is dirt in these two pictures, hard to imagine that this was even so in a city with concrete and asphalt everywhere now.

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1940s Photo

History note: During World War II when materials were scarce, most of the Parade costumes were made of paper. A big draw during this period was for children to watch the Parade from office buildings along the route. All the windows facing South were crowded with children, including the Park Plaza Hotel (today’s Park Hyatt) (Source).

Here is a great video of the Santa Claus parade in the 1940s.

1950s Photos

History note: In 1952 the parade was televised for the first time, appearing on CBC (A Century of Memories by Citynews).

1956 Parade-The baton twirling ladies are fantastic looking!

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Love the dirndl outfits and the maypole for the Sherwood forest float.

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Fun in the Snow! 1950s Snow Queen Float.

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To end here is an excellent short historic overview of some of the most memorable moments in the parades history (some I stated above already):

“A Century of Memories-The History of Toronto’s Santa Parade”

Further Reading:

• Vintage Toronto Blog Posts Archive
• Collection of Vintage Christmas Blog Posts from the 1920s-1960s

Will you be attending your own cities Santa Claus Parade? Or do they do other cool traditions for the holiday season?

Liz