Toronto Santa Claus Parade 2026: Sunday, November 22

Date, time and route

The 2026 parade is on Sunday, November 22, 2026, starting at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. The route published for 2026 runs roughly 6 km west to east and north to south through the centre of the city:

1. Start at Christie Pits Park (Bloor Street West at Christie Street)
2. East along Bloor Street
3. South on St. George Street, then east on Hoskin Avenue through the University of Toronto
4. South past Queen's Park and down University Avenue
5. East on Wellington Street, then south on Yonge Street
6. East on Front Street to the finish at Jarvis Street, by St. Lawrence Market

Organizers confirm the final map and the City of Toronto announces road closures in the days before the parade. Streets along the route close well before 12:30 p.m. and reopen in stages after the last float passes, so check closures if you are driving anywhere downtown that afternoon.

Where to watch

• Near the start (Bloor Street West): you see the parade first and leave first, but the start area around Christie Pits is crowded with families visiting the pre-parade activities.
• Bloor Street and the University of Toronto stretch: wide sidewalks and plenty of room early in the day.
• University Avenue: the broadest part of the route, with space on both sides and the median. A good choice with a stroller.
• Yonge and Front streets near the finish: closest to Union Station and St. Lawrence Market, so easy to reach by train, but the narrowest and most packed part of the route. The parade arrives here last, in mid-afternoon.

Arrive at least an hour early for a front-row spot, dress for standing still outdoors in late November, and agree on a meeting point with children in case you get separated in the crowd.

Before the parade: Santa's zones

For 2026 the organizers run two free pre-parade areas: Santa's Treats Zone at Christie Pits, near the start, and Santa's Magic Zone at Sankofa Square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square), close to the downtown end of the route. They are a way to keep children busy while you wait. Times and activities are posted by the organizers closer to the day.

Getting there: GO Transit and the TTC

• GO Transit: Union Station is the closest GO stop, a short walk from Front and Yonge. Children 12 and under ride GO free. You can tap PRESTO, a credit card or a debit card (with Ontario's One Fare, a transfer to the TTC is free), or buy an E-Ticket or One-Day Weekend Pass. GO suggests buying tickets online in advance.
• TTC subway: Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) has Christie, Bathurst, Spadina and St. George stations near the start; Line 1 stations along University Avenue (Queen's Park, St. Patrick, Osgoode) and Yonge Street (King, Union) cover the rest of the route. Surface routes that cross the parade are detoured.
• Driving: not recommended. Downtown parking fills early, and road closures make it hard to leave until the route reopens.

Watching from home

The parade has been televised since the 1950s, first on CBC, then Global, then CTV and CP24; it was livestreamed on YouTube for the first time in 2024 and aired on Citytv in 2025. The broadcaster and air time for 2026 had not been announced when we checked. In recent years the TV broadcast has not always been live, so if you want to see the parade as it happens, the sidewalk is the surest option.

A short history

Toronto's parade is generally described as the oldest Santa Claus parade in the world. The first official one, on December 2, 1905, had a single float: the Eaton's department store brought Santa from Union Station to its downtown store. Eaton's built the parade into one of the largest in North America and paid for it for decades. When the company ended its sponsorship in 1982, a "Save Our Parade" campaign and a group of corporate sponsors kept it alive, and it has been run independently ever since.

The 2020 and 2021 editions were broadcast-only events filmed away from the public because of the pandemic; the parade returned to its downtown route in 2022. Crowds of more than half a million people were reported by the mid-2000s.

Other Santa Claus parades in Ontario, 2026

If November 22 doesn't work, these parades are listed for 2026 by Destination Ontario. Times and routes are set by each town, so check the local listing before you go.