Santa and the Grinch to team up for Christmas parade around Chesterfield

Chesterfield Roundtable have organised two parades which will see the two Christmas icons spreading the Christmas spirit around the town.

The two parades, on December 19 and 20, will follow routes around HIghfield Park and through Ashgate respectively. Both parades will begin at 4.30pm and finish at 7.30pm.

The chairman of Chesterfield RoundTable Michael Burnell said: “We felt that there are plenty of Christmas fairs and you do have the council funded Santa’s grotto in town, which I think is a little disappointing, but generally I don’t think Chesterfield truly gets into the Christmas spirit. Every year you see less houses with decorations and people always seem to say it doesn’t feel like Christmas.

“We thought this parade might bring that element of Christmas cheer and community that’s missing.”

Both parades will begin at 4.30pm and finish at 7.30pm. They will see Santa, travelling around the streets of Chesterfield in a specially designed sleigh, followed by volunteer elves with charity buckets. The Grinch will also be following Santa’s sleigh as well as visiting several locations across Chesterfield over the holiday season.

As well as spreading Christmas cheer around the town, Chesterfield Roundtable hopes it will provide a cheaper, more accessible way to see Santa this year.

Michael said: “The other day I saw a poster breakfast with Santa event that was £20 per child. I’ve also seen an event to meet Santa Claus and get a picture which was £7 a child. Essentially you’re paying £7 for the equivalent of a 30 second experience. Some families would have to really scrimp and save for that.

“Also you’ve got these really nice Santa's grotto events at places like Meadowhall but some families in Chesterfield would not be able to justify the cost of travelling for the day. So we want to bring all of those things to these families for free.”

Although there will be no charge to attend the parade, onlookers are encouraged to donate some money to the charity buckets that will be carried by Santa’s elves.

Half of the money raised will go towards Chesterfield Roundtable’s future events and mission to clean up the town’s parks. The other half will be going to a Chesterfield-based charity called Relate who offer free therapy and counselling.

Onlookers are also welcome to walk the route of the parade around the chosen routes, which each end at separate, family friendly pubs– The Highfield and The Woodside.

Michael said: “People are more than welcome to follow the sleigh as it will be only going five to ten miles an hour, and then everybody can get together at the pub afterwards.

“We’ve purposely chosen family-friendly pubs so everyone can have food, drink and a real Christmas get-together.”

People will also have the opportunity to track the parades thanks to a Chesterfield company called iTrack. They have provided a tracking device which will be attached to Santa’s sleigh, which you will be able to follow the movements of via an online link. Due to their generosity, iTrack have been named as sponsors of the event.

More information about the upcoming event can be found on Chesterfield’s Roundtable’s Facebook page.