The spirit of the season came alive in Ottawa today for the 49th annual Help Santa Toy Parade organized by the Ottawa professional firefighters’ association. Katie Clattenburg is the event’s chair and says “It’s so hard to see people, you want everybody to experience the same thing on Christmas morning. It’s not fair for kids who can’t afford to celebrate Christmas to not be able to do, so we try to bring that to them.”

Members of Ottawa Fire, Ottawa Police and charity groups including the Salvation Army took part in the parade which began in downtown Ottawa along Laurier Avenue to Lansdowne. Colourful bands and carolers made their way down the streets playing music and dancing; festive music echoing through the city, bringing smiles to kids’ faces.

Ottawa resident Jasen McCoubrey joined his wife and two kids along Laurier to donate gifts and help make Christmas a little brighter for those in need. “We want to give to others that can't obviously give to themselves, so it's just part of what we do” says McCoubrey

Santa waved to the crowd for more than two hours – on a day dedicated to giving.

"Every year they seem to get better and better. How can you not find somebody who's not on the nice list when the city is such a generous city? Impossible!” said Mr. Claus.

Organizers hoped to raise more than $30,000 and collect an entire flat-bed trailer full of toys. “We try to raise about thirty thousand a year sometimes it's hard...We had beautiful weather, the crowds were huge today so hopefully we reached that.” said Clattenburg.

 All the toys collected at Help Santa Toy Parade will be added to CTV’s Toy Mountain campaign December 6th in Ottawa.