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58th annual Lions Santa Claus parade will be held November 19
The 58th annual Lions Club of Kitchener Santa Claus parade will be held November 19, starting at 10:30am at the corner of King Street East and Cedar Street in Kitchener.
It will march down King Street to the intersection with Victoria Street. At Victoria, it will turn right and then left onto Weber Street West. The parade ends where Weber Street meets Union Street East.
Kitchener-Waterloo Citizen of the Year Neil Aitchison has been named parade marshal.
With his deep, recognizable voice and quick wit he is often found emceeing local events. Aitchison is a founding member of the Kitchener Westmount Rotary Club and his numerous volunteer roles have included the K-W Symphony, K-W Musical Productions, Gilbert & Sullivan Society, RAISE Home Support, Waterloo Regional Police Service, Twin City Harmonizers, the Working Centre and K-W Oktoberfest.
Aitchison also received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award and the Waterloo Award and has been honoured three times with the Paul Harris Fellow – Rotary’s highest award for community service.
Lions Club of Kitchener member Vic Bovingdon said this year’s parade will be collecting toys for the Knight’s of Columbus of Waterloo and non-perishable food for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region along the route.
The parade takes about one hour to pass by any location.
The Lions Club will be doing a little celebrating of its own during this year’s parade.
Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Lions Club.
“There is a new Lions float depicting what we do in the community,” Bovingdon said.
The club will also display the Lions centennial torch during the parade. Each country around the world that has a Lions Club (208 in total) has a centennial torch used to help to commemorate the celebration. Canada’s torch will be in Kitchener for the parade.
HISTORY OF THE LIONS CLUB OF KITCHENER
This history provided by the Lions Club of Kitchener.
Organized In 1937, the Lions Club of Kitchener celebrated its Charter Night in the Crystal Ballroom of the Walper Hotel. Receiving the Charter document from then District Governor L.W. Peterson of Windsor was the club’s first Charter President, the late Irvin Erb. The creation of the club began many years of dedicated service to this community.
One of the first club projects was to underwrite the cost of an eye operation to restore the sight of a man who had been partially blind for three years.
In June 1939, their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Kitchener on their tour across Canada. The Royal couple was only going to be in town for about ten minutes. However, thousands of people would come to Kitchener to see them. The club thought about what these people would do once the royal train departed and members proposed holding a Summer Festival.
The mayor at the time, Mr. C. Gordon, declared in an open letter to Waterloo County, “The Summer Festival will be held in Victoria Park Kitchener. A vast program of amusements, entertainment and merry making is being planned. It will include sports events, massed band music, water sports and pageantry. All the resources of Kitchener Lions Club are being centered upon making the Summer Festival an event, which will be long remembered as second only to the visit of their Majesties.”
The festival included a parade made up of over 3,500 people marching - 1,250 of whom were Boy Scouts.
An estimated 7,000 people gathered at Victoria Park for the festival and the day climaxed with a fireworks display that outlined the British Monarch and his Queen.
Throughout the war years (1939-1945), the Club continued to operate. It sponsored public campaigns for food and clothing for Britain, relief for the people of Greece and entertainment for the Canadian Women’s Corps training in Kitchener.
At the end of the war the Club honoured the returning veterans with a dinner. This became an annual event and was subsequently taken over by the City of Kitchener. The Club also held annual dinners for the Silver Cross Mothers.
Projects of the club in more recent years include; Belwood Lake Camp (now operated by the K-W YMCA), operation of a Christmas hamper bureau for Waterloo Region, an Audio-Logical Unit to K-W Hospital, support of local minor sports teams, donation of $16,000 to purchase a new snow plow for K-W Hospital, purchase of hearing aids, eye glasses and audio aids, Lake Joseph Summer CNIB Camp and the arranging of transportation and accommodation for 45,000 children to attend Expo ‘67 in Montreal.
In 1979, a partnership was formed with the City of Kitchener to help finance the Kitchener Lions Community Arena. The club donated $200,000 to pay for the reflecting pool and skating rink in front of Kitchener’s City Hall.
Over the past 45 plus years, the club’s main fundraising event has been Altes Muenchen Haus, a festhall at Queensmount Arena run during the KW Oktoberfest festivities in early October.
Canadian Polka King and Grammy Award winner Walter Ostenak and his band has been the main headliner there for over 30 years.
The club’s Annual Magic Show has resulted in donations of over $600,000 to the Dog Guide Program.
In 2004, the Lions Club took over the KW Santa Claus Parade held every 3rd Saturday in November, and in 2007 initiated the hosting of the KW Citizen of the Year, which started in 1957.
Its contributions to various community organization, groups and people in need is vast and include the following:
Arthritis, C.O.D.R.P. ALS, Children’s Safety Village, CHYM Tree of Hope, Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, Huntington Society, Mary’s Place KW YMCA, Sunbeam Centre, Blind Curlers and Lawn Bowling, Children’s Wish Foundation, KW Water Polo, KW Spirit Soccer, RAISE, Waterloo County Rugby, Waterloo Prenatal, Hospice of Waterloo, Kids Link, Kitchener Firefighters Memorial, Kitchener Firefighters Pipe and Drum Corp, Health Sciences Project, Food and Beverage Scholarship at Conestoga College. Other club projects include Campaign Sight First, Camp Dorest, CNIB Lake Jo, Lions Quest, Sight Conservation, Youth Exchange Program and Camp Kirk.
It will march down King Street to the intersection with Victoria Street. At Victoria, it will turn right and then left onto Weber Street West. The parade ends where Weber Street meets Union Street East.
Kitchener-Waterloo Citizen of the Year Neil Aitchison has been named parade marshal.
With his deep, recognizable voice and quick wit he is often found emceeing local events. Aitchison is a founding member of the Kitchener Westmount Rotary Club and his numerous volunteer roles have included the K-W Symphony, K-W Musical Productions, Gilbert & Sullivan Society, RAISE Home Support, Waterloo Regional Police Service, Twin City Harmonizers, the Working Centre and K-W Oktoberfest.
Aitchison also received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award and the Waterloo Award and has been honoured three times with the Paul Harris Fellow – Rotary’s highest award for community service.
Lions Club of Kitchener member Vic Bovingdon said this year’s parade will be collecting toys for the Knight’s of Columbus of Waterloo and non-perishable food for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region along the route.
The parade takes about one hour to pass by any location.
The Lions Club will be doing a little celebrating of its own during this year’s parade.
Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Lions Club.
“There is a new Lions float depicting what we do in the community,” Bovingdon said.
The club will also display the Lions centennial torch during the parade. Each country around the world that has a Lions Club (208 in total) has a centennial torch used to help to commemorate the celebration. Canada’s torch will be in Kitchener for the parade.
HISTORY OF THE LIONS CLUB OF KITCHENER
This history provided by the Lions Club of Kitchener.
Organized In 1937, the Lions Club of Kitchener celebrated its Charter Night in the Crystal Ballroom of the Walper Hotel. Receiving the Charter document from then District Governor L.W. Peterson of Windsor was the club’s first Charter President, the late Irvin Erb. The creation of the club began many years of dedicated service to this community.
One of the first club projects was to underwrite the cost of an eye operation to restore the sight of a man who had been partially blind for three years.
In June 1939, their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Kitchener on their tour across Canada. The Royal couple was only going to be in town for about ten minutes. However, thousands of people would come to Kitchener to see them. The club thought about what these people would do once the royal train departed and members proposed holding a Summer Festival.
The mayor at the time, Mr. C. Gordon, declared in an open letter to Waterloo County, “The Summer Festival will be held in Victoria Park Kitchener. A vast program of amusements, entertainment and merry making is being planned. It will include sports events, massed band music, water sports and pageantry. All the resources of Kitchener Lions Club are being centered upon making the Summer Festival an event, which will be long remembered as second only to the visit of their Majesties.”
The festival included a parade made up of over 3,500 people marching - 1,250 of whom were Boy Scouts.
An estimated 7,000 people gathered at Victoria Park for the festival and the day climaxed with a fireworks display that outlined the British Monarch and his Queen.
Throughout the war years (1939-1945), the Club continued to operate. It sponsored public campaigns for food and clothing for Britain, relief for the people of Greece and entertainment for the Canadian Women’s Corps training in Kitchener.
At the end of the war the Club honoured the returning veterans with a dinner. This became an annual event and was subsequently taken over by the City of Kitchener. The Club also held annual dinners for the Silver Cross Mothers.
Projects of the club in more recent years include; Belwood Lake Camp (now operated by the K-W YMCA), operation of a Christmas hamper bureau for Waterloo Region, an Audio-Logical Unit to K-W Hospital, support of local minor sports teams, donation of $16,000 to purchase a new snow plow for K-W Hospital, purchase of hearing aids, eye glasses and audio aids, Lake Joseph Summer CNIB Camp and the arranging of transportation and accommodation for 45,000 children to attend Expo ‘67 in Montreal.
In 1979, a partnership was formed with the City of Kitchener to help finance the Kitchener Lions Community Arena. The club donated $200,000 to pay for the reflecting pool and skating rink in front of Kitchener’s City Hall.
Over the past 45 plus years, the club’s main fundraising event has been Altes Muenchen Haus, a festhall at Queensmount Arena run during the KW Oktoberfest festivities in early October.
Canadian Polka King and Grammy Award winner Walter Ostenak and his band has been the main headliner there for over 30 years.
The club’s Annual Magic Show has resulted in donations of over $600,000 to the Dog Guide Program.
In 2004, the Lions Club took over the KW Santa Claus Parade held every 3rd Saturday in November, and in 2007 initiated the hosting of the KW Citizen of the Year, which started in 1957.
Its contributions to various community organization, groups and people in need is vast and include the following:
Arthritis, C.O.D.R.P. ALS, Children’s Safety Village, CHYM Tree of Hope, Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, Huntington Society, Mary’s Place KW YMCA, Sunbeam Centre, Blind Curlers and Lawn Bowling, Children’s Wish Foundation, KW Water Polo, KW Spirit Soccer, RAISE, Waterloo County Rugby, Waterloo Prenatal, Hospice of Waterloo, Kids Link, Kitchener Firefighters Memorial, Kitchener Firefighters Pipe and Drum Corp, Health Sciences Project, Food and Beverage Scholarship at Conestoga College. Other club projects include Campaign Sight First, Camp Dorest, CNIB Lake Jo, Lions Quest, Sight Conservation, Youth Exchange Program and Camp Kirk.