Dec 07, 2016


The Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club hosted its annual Santa Clause parade in Harrowsmith this past Saturday.

The parade started Centennial Park, travelling down Notre Dame Street to Colebrook and back to Road 38 to end back at the park.

The fire department started the parade, followed by the South Frontenac Community Services bus collecting donations for the food drive. The Harrowsmith Free Methodist Church, Kingston District Shrine Club and The Salvation Army were just a few of the many beautifully decorated floats in the parade line this year. The Girl Scouts followed along, dressed as Santa’s reindeer wishing everyone they saw a very merry Christmas.

The parade ended with an appearance from Santa himself riding on the Frontenac Firefighters Association’s float.

Everyone was invited back to Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club afterward to warm up and enjoy free refreshments, compliments of the club’s volunteers.

Every year, the event gets a great crowd of people gathered down the main stretch of Harrowsmith to enjoy the parade line-up. This year was no different.

However, what did change was the parade committee’s director. Don Betke has been a part of the club for many years. He took over organizing the parade this year and did an excellent job according to the Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club’s president Pam Morey.

Morey says that it is events like these that bring people together. “It’s a feel good event,” she says. “It’s nice to see all of the young families coming out… there are lots of new faces here.”

Morey has been in her current role since 2013. She worked with the rest of her club members for months to organize this wonderful community event.

The club is made up of volunteers from all around the township. “We host different community events throughout the year to provide something and somewhere for people to go in their community instead of travelling to Kingston,” says Morey.

Aside from the Santa Clause parade, the club is also in charge of running things like Canada Day celebrations in Centennial Park, dances and different fundraisers.

Morey says that an event like this would take approximately two months of planning and several meetings to ensure that all of the bases are covered and that nothing is left out.

The club encourages other residents in the area to get involved. Morey says she hopes that events like these will inspire people to come out and be more active in their community.

Support local
independant journalism by becoming a patron of the Frontenac News.