Ste-Catherine: a respite for the holidays
The dig on Ste-Catherine east of McGill College will be suspended for a couple of months over the holiday season, while some are displeased that Saturday’s Santa Claus parade is going along René-Lévesque instead. CTV notes that a few of the vehicles in this year’s parade will be electric ones.
Minor question from curiosity: after Santa Claus arrives, where does he go? I seem to remember that, when I was a kid, Santa Claus would arrive via the parade and then be enthroned at Eaton’s in a shameless commercial orgy to stimulate Christmas shopping. I have no idea whether there’s “a” Santa like that any more.
Update: A few days after I posted this, the Gazette did a “through our eyes” about Santa and Eaton’s in 1950.
Uatu 11:06 on 2019-11-23 Permalink
That old parade was sponsored by Eatons so it’s no surprise that he’d lead the crowd like the Pied Piper to Eatons to revel in the holiday spirit of consumerist gluttony. I even remember TV commercials with Don McGowan hyping up the parade weeks before. I’m not sure but I think this parade is run by the downtown merchants association so who knows where Santa ends up ?
Kate 11:15 on 2019-11-23 Permalink
Right. I also remember that other stores had a Santa, so clearly Eaton’s didn’t have a monopoly. I think Simpson’s had one, but I’d have to go digging in the La Presse archive to find out whether Dupuis Frères did. I think some malls may have had a collective one – surely Fairview did?
Does anybody still do this, or are parents too leery about letting children sit on the laps of heavily disguised strangers?
Michael Black 11:38 on 2019-11-23 Permalink
Remember, the Eaton’s parade is fifty years in the past. The current parade pretends that there is continuity, but there was a gap of at least a decade, and a different group running it.
Complexe Desjardins definitely had a Santa Claus for some time, don’t know about now. But they also had various activities for kids and a “train” to ride around the central area.
We’ve lost most of the department stores, so that is likely the primary reason that the Santa Clauses disappeared. For some years the toy department disappeared from the downtown The Bay, but it returned I think last year. They still have a tiny Christmas section on the same floor as the restaurant, but it’s not like the old days. Eaton’s and The Bay would be selling Christmas decorations, but had lots set up so it was something to see without buying anything. We’d always go down to Eaton’s one evening, have something at the automat on the fifth floor, see Santa Claus, and then visit the toy department.
For a while, some of the department stores had Breakfast with Santa, certainly thirty years ago. So pancakes before going off to buy or see what you wanted for Christmas.
I think the malls still have Santa Claus visits, the mall organizing it rather than a specific sfore. Certainly Angrignon has had it in recent years.
One can always go to Ikea in the coming weeks, a way to get in the mood for a Scandinavian Christmas, but then we spent six months in Denmark when I was five, probably the first Christmas I really remember.
Michael
Uatu 13:21 on 2019-11-23 Permalink
There are still mall Santas in the burbs. In Champlain mall there’s a Santa village and it’s loaded with parents and kids. Parents still just love getting a picture of santa with the kids
denpanosekai 14:08 on 2019-11-23 Permalink
Yes I brought my daughter to the Angrignon Santa last week and it was fun. They gave her a book. Go there on like a Wednesday night to avoid the incredible lineups.
The parade this morning was fun, but as usual loaded with technical hiccups. Sometimes it would be frozen for (what felt) up to 10 minutes. The tapdancing cart had major loudspeaker problems. And just overall very disjointed groups. But it was still cool and Rene Leveski wasn’t a bad pick this year.