“It ran during the Great Depression and both world wars”: The CEO of the Toronto Santa Claus Parade on the event’s uncertain future

Since 1905, the Toronto Santa Claus Parade has marched, floated and upside-down clowned its way through the downtown core, delighting hundreds of thousands of onlookers and kicking off the holiday season. In that time, there have been challenges: two world wars, the Great Depression and, now, the fallout from the pandemic, which has put a question mark on the parade’s future prospects. Earlier this month, the organization behind the beloved tradition announced a $250,000 shortfall in its 2025 budget and launched a GoFundMe for public support. “We had hoped and planned to bounce back after Covid, but unfortunately that has not been the case,” says Clay Charters, the parade’s CEO, who spoke with Toronto Life about support from the feds, the realities of corporate sponsorship after the pandemic, and the 2024 float most likely to wow.

The Santa Claus Parade sounded the alarm about financial precarity earlier this month. When did you first realize you were in trouble? These issues are a result of the pandemic, which put a pause on our in-person event for two years and also had, and continues to have, a huge impact on corporate sponsorship. During Covid, there were different priorities and a concern about the reach of a parade with no crowds. We had hoped that the money would return to normal when we did, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case. I think, in part, trends in corporate sponsorship have moved toward companies supporting a specific cause and maybe also shrinking budgets. Coming out of last year, we knew that we were going to be in trouble if things didn’t change. We started thinking about what calling on the public for support might look like, which ended up being the GoFundMe we launched earlier in the month.

Along with depleting corporate dollars, you’ve cited a rise in operational costs. I guess even Santa can’t escape inflation? Certainly we have seen increases in a lot of our labour-related expenses: security, for example. And then materials are more expensive as well. Every year, about half of the floats in the parade are built from scratch. The rental of the Santa’s Secret Workshop space where we store and build floats has gone up, and so have our insurance costs. We have made some attempts at cutting costs—we went virtual with our volunteer events and cut down on VIP spaces—but it really is a matter of loss of funding, and that’s not something we can recoup.

Can you give us a cost breakdown? The parade costs about two million dollars to fund and operate. Usually, between 75 and 85 per cent of that has come from corporate sponsors, who donate money to underwrite floats, with the additional costs covered by the provincial government. Next year’s budget was short about $250,000 before we made our fundraising plea. Since then, we have raised about $75,000 from the public and received $100,000 from the City of Toronto, which we are very grateful for.

So Olivia Chow is on the nice list. Anyone else? We are funded every year by the province.

I saw that an anonymous donor pledged $25,000 to your GoFundMe. Any idea who that was? I do know—a long-time supporter of the parade who learned we were in trouble—but they wanted to stay anonymous. We are so grateful for that support and for all of the donations we have received. Smaller amounts also make a difference. Every year, 750,000 people attend the parade. If they all gave $2, that would be a game changer.

Do you think Torontonians may take the parade for granted? It’s been around for longer than any of us. Is there an assumption it will always be there? I do think there may be a bit of that. I’m not faulting Torontonians, but it’s true that it’s always been there. People love the big day, but many probably don’t realize everything that goes into putting on a parade of this size year after year. We have staffing costs, storage costs—it all adds up. This year, we are doing a live broadcast on YouTube, so that’s another expense, but it’s one we thought might be worth it in terms of reaching a wider audience and hopefully making us more attractive from a sponsorship perspective.

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How was the parade different when it first started? I’m guessing there were fewer giant PAW Patrol characters Ha, definitely. The first parade was actually just Santa and his sled, and it was run by Eaton’s department store. That was until 1982, when Eaton’s stepped away and members of the city’s business community came together and decided to run the parade as a not-for-profit.

Surely this isn’t the first time the parade has been in dire straits. The parade ran during the Great Depression and both world wars. I know that, during the Second World War, supplies were at such a premium that everything in the parade was made of paper. So, no, the pandemic was not the first challenging time. And as much as it was sad that people couldn’t gather in the streets, I think it was a really important year in terms of the parade and what it means to the people of Toronto, who were able to experience a bit of normalcy watching it on TV with their families.

So you don’t think a Santa Claus parade is maybe a bit outdated as the population of Toronto becomes more diverse? The parade has never been about religion. It’s a celebration of joy, and we know from our research that our audience really does represent the population of Toronto and of Canada. This is the largest single-day event in the city.

Do you have a favourite float? I love some of the characters that have become familiar presences at the parade, like the giant honey cruller on the Tim Hortons float or the garlic dipping sauce on the Pizza Pizza float. We also have a bunch of new floats, including one celebrating the 25-year anniversary of Lego Star Wars, featuring C-3PO and R2-D2. I know that one has been eight months in the making.

What are your early parade memories like? I grew up in Etobicoke, but my grandparents lived downtown. Every year, my family would drive to their apartment the night before and sleep over, and then the next day we would make the walk over to University Avenue. I loved the upside-down clowns, and back then I remember being so impressed by how they could walk on their hands for so long. I’m proud to say that, all these years later, the same costumes are still used in the parade every year. I started taking my own kids from the time they were very little, and then I started my job here in 2018.

Were there any signs of trouble then? No, not at all. We were actually running at a surplus, which has helped us to get through the past few years, but we’re at a point now where we’ve gone through our rainy-day funds.

Would you consider selling the naming rights of the parade? The Rogers Toronto Santa Claus Parade has a ring to it... It’s a larger conversation, and it would have to be the right fit, but it’s something we’re considering and something we’re open to discussing very early in the new year.

Justin Trudeau has posted about the federal government coming to the rescue. Has that promise come through? We are still in talks with the federal government, so I can’t provide specifics just yet. I can say that we are very excited to be working with representatives from the PMO’s office and that this would be our first time ever to receive support from all three levels of government.

I’m sure our political leaders are all keen to land on Santa’s nice list this year Ha—aren’t we all?

Have you asked Santa for help? Santa is very busy, and we are so grateful he is able to take the time to be in our parade every year. We’ll handle the business side of it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.