Santas, Mrs. Santas, elves, pixies and Saint Nicks from Denmark, North Carolina and all points across Canada strolled down Niagara-on-the-Lake's Queen Street shopping district, scoping out some ideas to bring back to the workshop for the elves that didn't make the trip from the North Pole.
They were in the region for the World Santa Claus Congress, the first time the annual gathering of professional Christmas cheer-bringers has ever been hosted in Canada.
"It used to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark," said Peter Boxall Jr., aka Santa Claus, who lives in Burlington, Ontario when he's not supervising the elves or guiding his reindeer around the world. "The sponsor there pulled out after COVID. So my sister and I took the opportunity to bring the congress here to celebrate our Dad's ninetieth birthday. There are 22 of us here this week."
The Boxalls are known in Burlington as the Santa family, as Peter Senior has also been donning the red and white suit for decades. Besides the two Santas, the family also includes an elf and two Mrs. Clauses.
The World Santa Claus Congress takes place each year during the week of July 24.
Participants are expected to come to all activities, such as shopping in NOTL on a day when temperatures reached 29 degrees Celsius, in full Santa regalia. Most years one of the participants is crowned the World's Best Santa, though that didn't happen at the 2023 event.
Boxall Jr. told The Local, a sister publication of ThoroldToday, that the Santas spent Monday morning on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, where they posed in front of the Skywheel, and took an afternoon tour of the Niagara Parks Power Station. Tuesday was spent bringing Christmas cheer to the animals at Safari Niagara.
It took hours for the group to make much progress as they moved down Queen Street. Fittingly, they were especially popular outside the Christmas Store.
"We've been stopped on the street here just about every five minutes," laughed Boxall Jr., as passersby squeezed in to take their own photos of the jolly tourists.
Following the Queen Street stroll, the group of Clauses was off to Avondale on Stewart Road to enjoy some ice cream, then it was back to Niagara Falls for their wrap-up gala.
After washing the sticky ice cream out of their beards, of course.
