Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual event held on Canadian Thanksgiving in the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario. Both cities, which are located right next to each other, are located 100 kilometres west of Toronto, situated next to the Grand River and part of the Region of Waterloo. Both cities host the largest Bavarian festival in Canada, and it is a celebration of Kitchener's German heritage.

Oktoberfest has been an annual tradition in Kitchener-Waterloo since 1967, when it was started by Julius Rachfuss as part of Canada's Centennial celebrations. The event runs through late September to the middle of October. Each year, the event attracts an average of 700,000 visitors, not just Canadians of German heritage, but also Canadians of all nationalities. K-W Oktoberfest is run by a team of operators including a president, alongside the five German clubs based in Kitchener. These clubs include the German-Canadian Hunting and Fishing Club (Hubertushaus), the Schwaben Club, the Transylvania Club, the Alpine Club, and of course, the Concordia Club, who, alongside Julius Rachfuss, were the ones that started the festival. In recent years, the festival has also done fundraising for charities, as they believe giving back is just as important as having fun.

The Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of the many highlights of K-W Oktoberfest. The parade, sponsored by Piller's Fine Foods, has been a tradition since 1968, and approximately 150,000 people line the streets of Kitchener to watch it live, with thousands more watching from home on CTV's broadcast. The parade features dozens of floats including annual favourites like the Rolling Steins and the raising of the Oktoberfest Maypole, alongside inflatables and marching bands. Plus, the parade also features a grand marshal, the five German clubs, and of course, K-W Oktoberfest's official mascot and the the parade's equivalent to Santa Claus, Onkel Hans, along with his lovely wife, Tante Frieda, and their dog Schickelfritz, who joined the Oktoberfest family in 2022. For over 50 years, the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade has brought joy to so many families, and to this day, it continues to be... Wunderbar!

## History with the Santa Claus Parade

The Toronto Santa Claus Parade has been involved in the Oktoberfest Parade since the 1970's, which was when the parade was nearing the end of the Eaton's Era. From the late 70's to the early 80's, the Santa Claus Parade would transport one of their self-propelled animal floats from Toronto to Kitchener to promote the Santa Claus Parade.

In 1978, Mother Goose, a Santa Claus Parade tradition since 1917, flapped her wings down the parade route, encouraging everyone to come to Toronto and welcome Santa to Eaton's Toyland. In 1980, Liquorice the Circus Tiger invaded the streets of Kitchener. However, because the team was still building the floats in preparation for the 1980 parade, Liquorice showed up to the event as Liquorice the Tiger, the same tiger that took over Toronto, just without his circus attire, which was added after the festival ended and the colossal cat returned to Toronto. Finally, in 1983, Kitchener was being invaded by a giant Goat.

In 2022, the Santa Claus Parade started a working relationship with K-W Oktoberfest to help with the floats. For the 2022 parade, the parade exported an airplane sculpt to Kitchener as part of a float sponsored by Flair Airlines. However, the airplane has been used in the Santa Claus Parade before, as it was part of Sunwing.ca's float from 2018, which still survives to this day at the Parade Warehouse.

In 2023, the float designers created Drumstick the Turkey, a new sculpt that was created exclusively for a float in the 2023 Oktoberfest Parade.