Bad news for your kids. According to the Canadian Press, Montreal’s annual Santa Claus parade has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eye-popping holiday parade for kids of any age is always a huge event— not to mention, a long-standing tradition that officially launches the beginning of the Holiday season in downtown Montréal.
According to the organization, the parade drew around 400,000 spectators last year and was seen by more than 700,000 viewers on television.
Source: Oleh_Slobodeniuk / E+ / Getty Images
The cancelation of the parade isn’t the only bad news for those of you who love Christmas celebrations...
It was recently announced that the Canadian Pacific (CP) Holiday Train will also not be visiting Canadian towns and cities this winter due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
For the first time in 21 years, the train will not run during the Christmas holiday. Instead, CP has promised to host a virtual benefit concert to raise funds for local food banks along the train’s usual route.
“COVID-19 has created many challenges for communities across our network and has only increased the need at local food banks and food shelves,” said CP president and chief executive officer Keith Creel.
“It is our honour to continue to donate to communities across our network this year, even if the train itself will not run. The spirit of the Holiday Train program and the Christmas spirit will carry on this year through our virtual concert. We will have the Holiday Train rolling again spreading Christmas cheer as soon as it’s safe to do so!”
The Holiday Train first travelled across Canada in 1999 and has since raised $17.8 million and collected 4.8 million pounds of food for local food banks on their network.
CP is hoping their virtual benefit concert will prompt people to continue to donate, especially in a time of economic uncertainty.
“It is our honor to continue to donate to communities across our network this year, even if the train itself will not run,” Creel said.
“We will have the Holiday Train rolling again spreading Christmas cheer as soon as it’s safe to do so!”
