The 118th annual Original Santa Parade returns to the streets of Toronto on Sunday, November 20 after two years of broadcast-only events.
The parade starts at 12:30 p.m.  and will be filled with a variety of floats, bands, marchers and of course Mrs. Claus and jolly Old St. Nick.
This year’s parade will be hosted by Bell Media personalities Melissa Grelo, Kelsey McEwen and Tyrone Edwards.
Musician and singer-songwriter John Legend will perform in the parade, along with singer-songwriter Preston Pablo.  The event will also feature a performance by the Ontario Ballet School
The parade route starts at Christie Pitts Park and travels east on Bloor Street West before turning south on University Avenue.  It will end in St.  Lawrence Market.
The Holly Jolly Fun Run also takes place on Sunday.  Starting just before the parade and following the same route, the route will end at Maple Leaf Square.
The TTC is encouraging customers to switch to running and marching instead of riding in traffic this weekend.
The transport agency will run extra services on Lines 1 and 2 to accommodate revelers.
“Many subway stations are conveniently located along or near the parade route, including Christie, Bathurst, Spadina and St. George stations on Line 2 and Museum, Queen’s Park, St. Patrick, Osgoode, Queen and King stations on line 1.”  the TTC said in a press release on Wednesday.
The TTC says the 501 Queen, 504 King, 505 Dundas, 506 King and 511 Bathurst routes will be maintained during parade breaks.
However, the following routes will be detoured during both the run and the parade:
• 13 Avenue Road
• 19 Bay
• 72 Pope
• 75 Sherburne
• 94 Wellesley
• 121 Esplanade – River
• 126 Christie
• 161 Rogers Road
• 300 Bloor-Danforth
Additionally, parking at many TTC subway stations is free on Sundays.
There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend.
If you can’t watch the parade in person, the event will be broadcast in a special Primetime broadcast on CTV on December 3 at 7 p.m.  ET/PT.
CP24 will also stream the parade live online, on the CP24 app and on the CP24 YouTube page.
The Original Santa Claus Parade first started in 1905 in Toronto.  In 2020, the parade marked its first broadcast production filmed in Canada’s Wonderland, to respect social distancing rules amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
CP24 and CTV are divisions of Bell Media.