Help Santa Toy Parade set for Saturday in downtown Ottawa

Santa Claus will arrive in Ottawa this weekend.
A scaled-back version of the Help Santa Toy Parade will travel through Centretown and the Glebe on Saturday morning.
"It's a smaller parade than normal," said Bob Rainboth of the Help Santa Toy Parade. "We have 20 entries. It might be a little quicker than normal as well."
The Ottawa Professional Firefighters Association initially planned to hold three mini Santa Claus parades in Kanata, downtown Ottawa and Orleans. The association says following the "tragic incident" that occurred during the Santa Claus parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin last month; it was decided to hold one parade in downtown Ottawa instead.
The parade will begin at 11 a.m. at Ottawa City Hall on Laurier Avenue. It will travel west on Laurier to Bank Street, and then south on Bank Street to Fifth Avenue ending at Lansdowne.
Families attending the parade are asked to wear a mask and practice physical distancing along the route.
Firefighters will not be collecting new toy donations for Toy Mountain during the Santa Claus parade. Instead, you are asked to drop off new toy donations at any Ottawa Fire Station.
"We have a large toy wagon and currently it's about a quarter full. We expect by the weekend to have it filled," said Rainboth.
"Then hopefully after we drop off our toys next Wednesday to Toy Mountain we do hope to do a second run if we can. We've very optimistic that we're going to collect a lot and we'd like to encourage the public to do so."
Cash donations can be made at www.toyparade.ca.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed
Three months after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, many ordinary Russians are reeling from those blows to their livelihoods and emotions. Moscow's vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers.

EXCLUSIVE | Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal on his journey to Canada’s highest court
Justice Mahmud Jamal sat down with CTV National News' Omar Sachedina for an exclusive interview ahead of the one-year anniversary of his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jamal is the first person of colour to sit on the highest court in the country, bringing it closer to reflecting the diversity of Canada.
Death toll from Saturday's storm hits 10 across Ontario and Quebec
As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.
'Too many children did not make it home': Anniversary of discovery at Canada's largest residential school
It's been a year since the announcement of the detection of unmarked graves at the site of what was once Canada's largest residential school – an announcement that for many Indigenous survivors was confirmation of what they already knew.
Walk out at trade meeting when Russia spoke 'not one-off,' says trade minister
The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok over the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
19 charged, including 10 minors, after violent night at Toronto beach
Police say they’ve made 19 arrests and seven officers were injured after a violent night at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach that saw two people shot, one person stabbed, two others robbed at gunpoint and running street battles involving fireworks through Sunday evening.
Monkeypox fears could stigmatize LGBTQ2S+ community, expert says
A theory that the recent outbreak of monkeypox may be tied to sexual activity has put the gay community in an unfortunate position, having fought back against previous and continued stigma around HIV and AIDS, an LGBTQ2+ centre director says.
Hydro damage 'significantly worse' than the ice storm and tornadoes, Hydro Ottawa says
Hydro Ottawa says the damage from Saturday's storm is "simply beyond comprehension", and is "significantly worse" than the 1998 ice storm and the tornadoes that hit the capital three years ago.
Johnny Depp's severed finger story has flaws: surgeon
A hand surgeon testified Monday that Johnny Depp could not have lost the tip of his middle finger the way he told jurors it happened in his civil lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.