Organizers behind Sarnia’s Labor Day parade are readying for its return.
Organizers behind Sarnia’s Labor Day parade are readying for its return.
“We’re all excited to be able to get back to some activity,” said Arlene Patterson, office administrator with the Sarnia and District Labor Council.
The parade went smaller, was closed off to the public and livestreamed from Mike Weir Park in 2020. Last year, organizers began gearing up for a small-scale return to Sarnia’s streets, planning for about one-10th of the normal number of participants.
Even that scaled-back plan turned out to be too much amid shifting COVID-19 restrictions, so the parade – a tradition in Sarnia since 1902 – was canceled when gatherings were capped at 100, Patterson said.
With most COVID-19 restrictions now dropped, four pipe bands, more than 23 entrants and roughly 3,000 marches are expected on Sept. 5 along the usual route, departing Wellington and Christina streets at 9:30 am before heading north on Front Street to Centennial Park, Patterson said.
“We even added the Tomatosoup Band this year,” she said, noting the London band will be performing from the back of a flatbed truck.
“It’s a little uplifting for everybody,” she said about the parade’s return.
“We’ve had grandfathers and grandsons, granddaughters marching in the parade that do it because it’s tradition,” she said.
The labor council, she added, is proud of the commitment from its affiliates and non-union participants.
Judges will set up in front of city hall, from where dignitaries can watch, and trophies will be awarded for best union float, best marching unit, best union representation and best classic vehicle, Patterson said.
This year’s theme – “Labour Makes It Happen” – acknowledges the importance of labor in making society work, she said.
“Look what we’re seeing in our current times (with) the labor shortages in health care for example and the crises that” result, she said.
Local unions are also quietly active in the community on various local projects, she said.
Some were involved in a Veterans Park monument restoration project, she noted, “so labor makes it happen.”
Anyone interested in participating can contact Patterson at 519-330-0504. The registration deadline is Aug. 17.