A parade held annually in the fall or early winter in Battleford has gone through more than one transformation – from a Christmas theme to a harvest theme and from a November time frame to October. But it has always been the project of the Battlefords Quarter Horse Club.
This year, the club is partnering with the Battlefords Humane Society and it’s become a Halloween event, says Heather Hall, humain society board member, in a letter to Battleford town councillors received Monday.
This year’s parade will be called the Hooves ‘n Paws Halloween Parade and will be raising funds for the Shelter Us Building Fund. The Humane Society is working toward funding a new shelter building to replace the aging structure now being used.
The date of the parade will be Halloween day, which is Saturday, Oct. 31. The parade is to commence at 1 p.m. and is expected to last about an hour.
The route will run from Fort Battleford, down Central Avenue to 22nd Street, west on 22nd Street to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum where it will do a U-turn, back up 22nd Street to Central Avenue, returning to the original form up area at the Fort.
Form up will be in the field across from the Fort, unless it is raining, in which case the form up will take place along the roadway.
If the weather is nice, organizers would like to hold a barbecue after the parade as well. Sponsorship for a barbecue is presently being sought. They will be asking Friends of the Fort for use of the facility at the Fort, but if it is unavailable they will hold the barbecue in the field. Food will be available to the public, not just parade participants.
In addition to discussion on the Hooves ‘n Paws Halloween Parade, Battleford councillors talked about the annual parade hosted by the town in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival weekend. It, too, has been forming up at the Fort for the last three years, prompting the creating of a new route that has proved popular with parade spectators. Monday, upon reviewing the minutes of a recent Battleford and District Parks and Recreation Board meeting, councillors noted the board would like to see the Friends of the Fort set up a beer garden and open the washrooms in the information centre during parade time, as they did the first two years the parade form up was moved to that area.
“Otherwise, there seems to be no point in having it start and end there,” stated the minutes.
