Submitted by Rob Hiscott
The 2025 Lion’s Head Santa Claus Parade sponsored by your local Rotary Club and held on Saturday, December 6th was a great success with a wonderful turnout to greet Santa during the Parade and then at United Church Hall after the Parade! This year, Santa had helpers Emily Burgess and Malcom Sargla who assisted him with distributing goodie bags to kids at the Hall, and then to residents of Golden Dawn Seniors Home here in Lion’s Head.
Special thanks to our Parade Marshal, Rotarian Sue Kolundzic, and to Malcom Sargla for registering Parade entrants, as well as this year’s Parade Judges Rotarians Catherine Henderson and Mary Fowler. And of course, a huge Thank You to Santa Claus for joining our annual Lion’s Head Parade once again, meeting and greeting all the children after the Parade, and visiting residents at Golden Dawn Seniors Home after that!
Judges had a difficult time selecting best float and participants from the Santa Claus Parade since there were so many great entries this year! Judges gave the nod to ‘Golden Dawn Seniors Home’ for Best Float this year, with its abundance of children and great costumes! For Walking Group, judges selected ‘Friends of the Library’ and ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’, with honourable mention to River the Spaniel and his companion Graeme Weston! Judges could not choose a single winner for Horse Entrants – they were all beautiful, well behaved animals! The winners included Duke the Pony (Val and Glen from Random Ranch Alpacas), Oskar and Jimmy the ponies (Ezra Mast), and horses Bailey (Ray Cameron), Will & Kidd (Thomas Boyle), Jackson (Ange MacDougall) and Rolex (Tanya Williamson)!
Rotary thanks everyone who participated in this year’s Santa Claus Parade, making the day so much fun for the kids, and of course thanks to all the spectators who lined the route to watch the Parade as it passed by!
Once again, ‘Friends of Lion’s Head Library’ were on hand in the Parade, and then after at United Church Hall to give a new book to every child visiting Santa – a wonderful Christmas tradition!
We thank Rotarians Jeff Labonte for pulling Santa’s sleigh/trailer, along with Dan Bryans and John White for getting Santa’s sleigh ready to go! We thank Rotarians Gwen Bestard, Mary Fowler, Paul Cinanni and Tanner Blasko for setting up the United Church Hall with hot beverages for everyone who came to visit with Santa after the Parade! Rotary also thanks our generous Parade sponsors this year –the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula and Grey-Bruce Cottages Inc. – and also expresses a special thank you to Lion’s Head United Church for allowing us to use their Hall for Santa’s ‘meet & greet’ with kids and parents! A full set of photos from the 2025 Lion’s Head Santa Claus Parade can be found on our Rotary website at: https://www.rotarynbp.org/photoalbums/santa-claus-parade-2025
Rotarians Host November Birthday Party at Golden Dawn
Rotarians Catherine Henderson and Chris Bird hosted a birthday party at Golden Dawn Seniors Home on November 20th for residents Jean and Gary who celebrated their birthdays during the month of November. Music was provided by local musicians Brian Taylor, Arnie Crittenden and Brian Osborne. There was music, some dancing, cake and ice cream, and a good time was had by all!
New Year’s Eve Community Event at Rotary Hall
On December 31st from 8:00 to midnight at Rotary Hall, your local Rotary Club will host a New Year’s Eve Open House as a community gathering to say goodbye to 2025 in the company of good friends and neighbours. We hope you can join us for this casual event to mark the end of 2025!
Best wishes from Rotary Club of Northern Bruce Peninsula members and families to everyone for a very joyous and peaceful holiday season, and a healthy and happy 2026!
