Digging themselves out: With Santa Claus parade cancelled, Londoners make best of snowy situation

Londoners continue to dig themselves out from this week’s massive snowstorm.

“It's been pretty brutal getting up every day and driving to work, and then we spend the first hour or so just cleaning off cars,” said Trevor Ebert, salesperson at Leavens Chrysler in east London. “We have seven salespeople here, and all of us getting out here, it takes us hours to clear off even just all the cars, not to mention moving things so that the plow can come through.”

The north and east ends of the city were blasted with snow this week, and some parking lots have banks about six feet high.

Just a few kilometres from Leavens, the London International Airport (YXU) has resumed normal operations.

“Everything is clear, and you wouldn't really know, looking at the runways or some of the parking lots, other than the massive piles of snow that have accumulated, that we had the weather that we did,” said Scott McFadzean, YXU chief executive officer. “It's really just all hands-on deck around the clock with every single person in the airport working to help clear snow. We saw a few of the Air Canada Jazz connectors into Toronto got canceled as a result of the snow, but all of the sun destination flying continued and our WestJet to Calgary continued.”

A year ago, the Argyle BIA Santa Claus Parade went off without any snow.

This year, there was just too much.

Bethany Mejia (left), executive director of the Argyle BIA and Rob Graham, chairman of the Argyle BIA, say the heavy snowfall forced the cancellation of the 10th annual Santa Claus parade on Dec. 7, 2024. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)“The snow drifts on Dundas are simply too high for spectators, and the parade routes on both exits were not cleared for snow,” said Bethany Mejia, executive director of the Argyle BIA. “We just thought due to the safety and concerns in the community, we will postpone the 10-year anniversary until next year and it'll be the best parade we've ever had.”

One of the major problems was the staging area in the Home Depot parking lot could not hold the dozens of floats. Where they would normally stage three wide, they could only do one row.

“The plows just can't keep up with the demand,” said Rob Graham, chairman of the Argyle BIA. “We're getting three months worth of snow in three days, so it really adds up. The schools have been canceled for two days straight. It’s not a decision that we had to take lightly, and I'm still wiping that tear away from my eye.”

Santa Claus poses for a photo with Wesley Clark and his parents Matt Clark and Skylar Favalaro at Warehouse Guys in London, Ont. on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)However, the Argyle BIA didn’t leave the kids out in the cold. Warehouse Guys on Dundas St. hosted an autograph session with the London Knights, and they brought Santa to greet the kids in lieu of the parade.

“We’re really trying to make something positive out of it,” said Chris Metron, owner of Warehouse Guys. “Having the London Knights fans all show up, this is still a great feeling. It’s a Christmas event and we have Santa here, so it's all good.”