Mother Goose

(Photo: Occasional Toronto)

Mother Goose is an imaginary and fictional author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The term's appearance in English dates back to the early 18th century, when Charles Perrault's fairy tale collection, *Contes de ma Mère l'Oye*, was first translated into English as *Tales of My Mother Goose*. Later, a compilation of English nursery rhymes, titled *Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle*, helped perpetuate the name in both the United Kingdom and North America.

## History with the Parade

Mother Goose has been a tradition in the Santa Claus Parade. The character has been represented in the parade since 1917. Ever since her first appearance, she has been a mainstay in the parade, always being represented both on and as a float. Her history with the parade is a little complex because of how many iterations she's gone through.

In the late 1940's, one of the most famous iterations of the character was made. She was a giant goose, and while her mouth was the only part of the float that moved, she was still a big goose. This version went through many changes and repaints until it was retired in the early-to-mid-60's.

The 1960's marked the rise of self-propelled floats, and Mother Goose went self-propelled for the first time around that time. Another common trend that started in the 60's was that Mother Goose was joined by various nursery rhyme characters on occasions, like in 1967.

Another tradition with the float was that Mother Goose, along with the other nursery rhyme-themed floats, were always near the start of the parade. This tradition started in the 70's.

In 1977, Mother Goose was self-propelled once again, and this time, she was wearing Victorian England-esque clothes and flapped her wings down the parade route, moving diagonally. In 1978, the float was exported to Kitchener for the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Another new version of the giant gander was made for the 1984 parade. This time, Mother Goose turned blue, soaring above the clouds. Eyelashes were added to the goose in 1985.

In 1986, Mother Goose was the star of a float titled Once Upon a Rhyme, which was a combination of nursery rhyme floats, and while Mother Goose was the main star of the float, Once Upon a Rhyme isn't considered a Mother Goose float.

For the 1990 parade, Mother Goose would once again be featured on a float with lots of nursery rhyme characters. This time, the float, was hers, and it was called The World of Mother goose. The human version of Mother Goose was featured at the front of the float, along with her goose form, Humpty Dumpty, Old Mother Hubbard and Doctor Foster.

In 1992, in celebration of Canada's 125th birthday, Mother Goose became a giant self-propelled Canada Goose. This was the first time this had ever happened to the character.

In 1993, Mother Goose went back to her tradition style. This time, she was flying on top of a storybook with characters like the Cat on the Fiddle and Humpty Dumpty featured on the sides of the book.

In 1996, Mother Goose went from flying on top of a book to soaring above a rainbow. there were also houses on the sides of the float with kids peeking through the windows. This float was recycled from the Gulliver's Travels float that appeared the previous year.

In 2000, Mother Goose was once again self-propelled. This time she was bright yellow, honking for all to hear. This float returned in 2001, and that year marked the float's retirement, but it also marked the last time Mother Goose was represented as a self-propelled float.

For the 100th parade in 2004, the classic late 40's version of Mother Goose was brought back. She was repainted and better than ever before. She was god with a crown on her head in a field of flowers. The side of the float even had a classic Eaton's float banner that read "The Joy of Rhymes", just like in the old days. For the rest of her appearances throughout the 2000's, whe would go through a few repaints, including her chocolate-coated makeover in 2005 as part of Cadbury Chocolate sponsoring the float. Mother Goose's final repaint was in 2010, where she went back to basic white, and because her float was sponsored by 98.1 CHFI, she was surrounded by musical instruments. The final change that were made to the float was in 2011, when the float went back to being a regular Mother Goose float with no commercial tie-ins. The final iteration of the 40's goose was sponsored by McDonald's for the 2011 parade, but in 2012, just like like every other year, her sponsor was changed yet again, this time to Marant Construction. This classic version of Mother Goose was retired for good after the 2014 parade.

In 2015, a new Mother Goose took over. This time, Mother Goose was a completely new version of the character, flying out of a storybook. She went from basic white to sparkling gold with gold glitter completely covering her body, and it's all thanks to her new sponsor, Yorkdale Shopping Centre. For the 2016 parade, Aviva took over as Mother Goose's sponsor, and this time she became bright yellow.

2017 marked a historic year for Mother Goose, as it marked her historic 100th anniversary as a float in the parade. This time, she became a recreation of the original Mother Goose float from 100 years ago, meaning she went back to being a basic white goose with a red beak, but that was exactly how she looked in her first flight in 1917. Once again, her sponsors were changed, this time to Canada Protection Plan and Foresters Financial. At the end of the day, although kids of today aren't familiar with her or didn't grow up with nursery rhymes, Mother Goose is still and will always be a hit with the parade's older audience, making them feel nostalgic and think of when they were kids, and she's come a long way from being horse drawn in 1917 to flying down the streets of Toronto with her nursery rhyme friends 100 years later.

In 2018, Marant Construction returned as the nostalgic goose's sponsor, and unlike last year where she was repainted to look like the original Mother Goose from 1917, this time, her beak was repainted yellow to make her look like the 40's version of Mother Goose that was used in the parade from 2011 to 2014, which was sponsored by Marant Construction for the float's last three years.

In 2019, The float was revamped once again, still using the 2015 Mother Goose, but this time, she is in a green toque and scarf, surrounded by presents and a giant heart at the back of the float. As for her sponsor, it was changed to Manulife, who would sponsor the float again in 2020 with no changes. In 2021, for the first time since 1981, Mother Goose was sponsorless, and her toque and scarf went from green to red. When Mother Goose returned to the streets in 2022, she would lose her toque. 2022 marked the last appearance of the 2015 version of Mother Goose, and as of August 1st, 2023, her float still survives at the warehouse, but without Mother Goose herself on it.

In 2023, Mother Goose will be back in a new look. This time, for the first time since 1992, Mother Goose will once again be a Canada Goose. This is the second time this has happened in the parade.

In conclusion, Mother Goose has gone through many forms over the years. She's gone through design changes, repaints and sponsor changes, but one thing that will never change about Mother Goose is that she will always be a Santa Claus Parade classic.