Help Santa Toy Parade is Saturday in Ottawa

Santa arrives in Ottawa on Saturday to kick off the Christmas and holiday season.

The 55^th The Help Santa Toy Parade is set for Saturday, organized by the Ottawa Professional Firefighters Association.

“We’ll be ready by Saturday. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we hope to see the whole town out,” Help Santa Toy Parade chairman Cameron Taylor told CTV Morning Live.

The parade collects donations to help Toy Mountain provide toys for the holidays.

“Anyone can help Santa. People can bring new, unwrapped gifts to the parade — we’d love that,” Taylor said.

“We’re going to have the giant red toy truck out there with our team collecting all those toys. We’re raising money along the route.”

Firefighters will also wear boots with a pressure feature to donate to the Help Santa campaign.

Taylor says the parade will have bands, including the Ottawa Fire Service band, and large floats.

“I’m so excited to come to Ottawa to see all the good little boys and girls and to cheer,” Santa Stefan Keyes told CTV Morning Live.

Here’s what you need to know about the Help Santa Toy Parade

The parade begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Route

The Help Santa Toy Parade starts at Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue.

The parade will travel west on Laurier Avenue to Bank Street, then south on Bank Street to Lansdowne.

Donations

The Help Santa Toy Parade will accept toy and cash donations for the Help Santa campaign, with donations supporting CTV and MOVE 100’s Toy Mountain. Toy Mountain provides toys to local families for the holidays.

You can also donate online at www.toyparade.ca. New, unwrapped toys can also be dropped off at all Ottawa Fire Services stations until Christmas.

The Help Santa Toy Parade is the first of several Santa Claus parades in Ottawa this holiday season. The Barrhaven Santa Claus Parade is on Sunday night.