OLEAN – Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, Right down Santa Claus Lane !!!
The Santa Claus Lane Parade is always the highlight of the holiday season, attracting loads of people of all ages to downtown Olean. The parade will be held on Friday, November 25, in downtown Olean, with a new start time of 6:30 p.m. The Santa Claus Lane committee encourages area organizations and businesses to participate in the parade with a float, send in a musical unit, or display historical/public vehicles in the parade.
The parade will begin at Delaware Avenue and North Union Street, will use both sides of the street as it did since 2018, and proceed south on North Union. Santa and Mrs. Claus will have their traditional countdown of the lights coming on at the intersection of State and Union.
The process is simple, it’s FREE to participate, and the enjoyment is plentiful, so why not enter? In order to participate in the parade, you’ll simply need to print out and fill in an application form that can be found online the Chamber’s website: www.oleanny.com or by calling the Chamber office. Parade trophies will be presented in eight categories.
Meme K. Yanetsko, GOACC COO (Santa’s Head Elf in Olean) stated, “The parade will be back in full force for 2022. We anticipate a ‘normal’ parade, and following any health department guidelines if stipulated. Our staging area has moved south into Delaware Avenue (besides the mall) and the back mall parking lot. This is due to the narrow intersection of Main and Barry and many of the larger trucks cannot maneuver thru there.” GOACC Officials stress that all units in the parade enter the staging area through the mall parking lot off North Union Street.
The parade rules and guidelines include: floats may be no taller than 13 feet and they MAY NOT contain a Santa or Mrs. Claus as they make their entrance at the end of the parade to light the lights; NO CANDY, small toys, light up wands, etc. SHOULD BE THROWN FROM THE FLOAT, and any children on the float should supervised. Adults must accompany small children if walking; if you would like to hand out candy/coupons, please have volunteers walk along the sidewalk and hand out; and if you have animals (dogs and horses are allowed) in the parade, you must provide scoopers to clean up droppings.
To participate in the parade, a float or unit must be decorated in holiday fashion. THERE IS NO THEME – the holidays and all the celebrations can be the theme if needed. A SAFETY COMMITTEE will review all floats before they enter the parade route. Although there is no official deadline for parade applications, GOACC urges all participants to get the information into the Chamber by November 21. All parade participants must have a waiver signed and Chamber officials ask that all waivers be handed in by November 23, to the offices at 301 North Union Street or the night of the parade to parade coordinators.
For more information regarding Santa Claus Lane or other Greater Olean Area events and activities, please call 716-372-4433 or email santa@oleanny.com.
RIGHT DOWN SANTA CLAUS LANE