By the early 20's the parade had grown to seven floats that assembled at the Eaton warehouse near Lansdowne Avenue. The floats were stored there throughout the year and each year the floats were updated and often new ones were added to the 'fleet'.

Familiar stories and popular characters were always called upon for the floats. The story of Noah's Ark is represented by the horse-drawn float to the right, while the floats below show Peter Pan and the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

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Leaving for the Parade from Geary Ave. Stables
Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, Toronto, 1925
Black and white print
Reference Code: F 229-308-0-804
Archives of Ontario, I0020426

The parade was already becoming a long-standing tradition and crowds along the parade route continued to grow.

Click here to see some more images from the 1926 parade.

As use of gasoline engines became more widespread, Santa Claus sometimes switched to more modern means of transportation. Throughout the 20s and early 30s he arrived aboard motorized floats of various kinds. In 1925, he was the engineer of his own steam locomotive, the Santa Claus Express.

While there are many similarities between the 1927 and 1928 parades, it's interesting to compare the differences. Some of the floats seem much more substantial in 1928 and Mother Goose's goose has grown considerably.

Although the majority of floats continued to be identified with the best-known nursery rhymes and fairy tales, as time went on, popular comic strip characters of the day also began to play a part in the parade.

Felix the Cat was one of the first contemporary children's characters to take part, but over the years popular characters like Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and characters from Sesame Street also got into the act.

Floats continued to get more elaborate and more sophisticated. The Mary, Mary Quite Contrary float above and Mother Goose, below are just two examples.

Click here to see some more images from the 1931 parade.