The theme of the 1960 parade was 'Santa's Parade of the Storyland Alphabet.' The cover of the colouring book is shown to the right. To see and download a copy of the colouring book that you can print up and colour, click here.

Some video clips of the 1960 parade can be seen below.

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Santa Claus Parade Colouring Books, 1960
Reference Code: F 229-162-0-583
Archives of Ontario

By the early 1960s the parade had grown so much that when it came time for the final preparations a staff of over 100 store employees was necessary. This included carpenters, artists, costumers, drivers, painters and executives.

Plus, there were hundreds of volunteer marchers and a score of police and other officials who contributed to putting the parade on the road.

The parade was over a kilometre and a half in length and travelled about 10 kilometres along the route. It took about one and a half hours from start to finish and about thirty-five minutes to pass any one point.

The theme for 1961 was 'The Dreams and Delights of Childhood' and the cover of that year's colouring book can be seen to the right. To see all of the pages of the colouring book and download a copy to print out and colour, click here.

The theme for the 1966 parade was, 'Santa's Carousel of Colour' and all the floats reflected that theme. And, keeping up with tradition, characters from popular nursery rhymes were featured prominently.

1969 was Eaton's 100th Anniversary year and the 65th running of the parade was held on November 15th. By this time it was being seen by 500,000 people in person and many more all across Canada were watching it on television. It was also being broadcast in the United States at a later date.

Eaton's held a design competition for children to design a birthday float. The competition was won by 12 year old Ricky Evans of Weston Ontario and he rode on the float in the parade.

Make a slide show with the images below. There is video footage to come.

Over the years, the parade organizers kept up with the times by including characters from contemporary comics and television shows. But characters from traditional nursery rhymes and fairy tales continued to play an integral role.

The floats representing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk from two different eras are shown here. The photograph to the is from 1925 and the one below was taken 49 years later at the 1974 running of the parade.