The 20th annual Yorkton Santa Claus Parade marked a major milestone, having celebrated 20 years of delighting people of all ages in the city. For one participant, that milestone marks the end of an era. Angie Yaholnitsky, one of the founders of the Santa Claus Parade in the city, celebrated what will probably be her final appearance in the parade.
It has been a fun ride, Yaholnitsky says, and she did it to meet people and see smiles on their faces. The first parade evolved out of Yaholnitsky and her husband doing hay rides, showing Christmas lights, with donations going to Ride for Sight, which the Yaholnitskys have donated over $30,000 to over the years. They decided Yorkton needed a Santa Claus parade, since it was a city that was big enough to have a parade for families. She thanks everyone who worked on the parade in the early for establishing it, and the community as a whole for making it a success.
When the parade began, it looked different from what it does now. In the first three years, they were not allowed to do a night parade, but three years into the event that was allowed to change. It has also become larger, with a full day of events leading up to the parade at the end.
“It’s a lot of fun but it’s a lot of work.”
Yaholnitsky jokes that her decision to stop appearing in the parade is due to a recent medical diagnosis of old age. She’s 87, and finding it more difficult to be involved. Whether or not she’s there, she hopes that the parade continues long into the future.
“Yorkton’s a big community, there should be no reason to stop it... It just felt like it would snowball every year and get more people involved.”
She says that the value of the parade is that it gets people out in the community. She laments that many people are homebodies, but says events like the parade are a great way to get people out and meet other people in the city.
“Anywhere anybody can help anybody to get people motivated and get out and do things.”
