The float made an appearance at the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade on Saturday, Nov. 14 and will make another at the Niagara Falls Santa Claus Parade on Saturday, Nov. 28. On Saturday, Dec. 5, the float will make its traditional appearance at the Stoney Creek Santa Claus Parade at 2 p. m., before heading to the Grimsby Santa Claus Parade at 5:15 p. m., followed by the Burlington Santa Claus Parade on Sunday, Dec. 6.

“We had requests to appear in 10 parades this year, but a lot of them were conflicting dates, so we couldn’t do them all. The float is definitely growing in popularity,” said club member Mac MacKinnon.

Stelco originally built the float about 19 years ago.

“When hard times fell, they mothballed it and were going to scrap it,” said MacKinnon. “Club member Jerry MacQueen, who was a Lions Club member at the time, convinced Stelco to sell it for $1 and the Lions Club took it over, painted it, did some minor work on it and started putting it back in parades about seven years ago.”

The Stoney Creek Lions Club then offered the float to the Battlefield Optimist Club.

“We started a program to restore it last year and it made an appearance in the Stoney Creek Santa Claus Parade, although it wasn’t fully restored. This year, we’ve painted it, put a new sound system on it, which will play old, traditional Christmas music, put new tires on it and upgraded all of the characters, so it’s ready to go,” said MacKinnon.

MacKinnon says the float would not be possible without the support of the City of Hamilton, Stoney Creek community and Larry’s Towing Lucky Bear Services Ltd., which donates a truck, fuel and driver to help haul the float wherever it needs to go.

“Hamilton and Stoney Creek are very good to our club,” he said, adding the club also raises money through the Winona Peach Festival and its Christmas tree lot. “Even though the float costs us money every year that’s part of our donation back to the community; we owe a lot to the community as a club.”

Nothing beats seeing the smiles on children’s faces every year, when the float passes by, says MacKinnon.

“They love it and you can see it in their eyes. The float is important to have because it represents our community and even when we go in other parades, it’s still the Stoney Creek Battlefield name on it, so we’re representing our community wherever we go.”