Uxbridge and Port Perry Santa Claus Parades Options

[RichHelms]

On Nov 26, 05 I am putting my Grinch smart car in the Uxbridge and Port Perry Santa Claus Parades.

The Uxbridge starts at 11:00 am Uxbridge Parade

The Port Perry forms from 1 to 4 pm at the Port Perry Fairgrounds. The parade starts at 5:00 pm. The Port Perry one usually has an entry fee but private familys and such can go in for free. I registered as just our family.
Contact info info@scugogchamber.ca

The Uxbridge parade is a fairly small event then onto PP which is about a 10 minute drive away. My wife and I are making a day of it. For the PP parade as it is at night, we will string icecicle lights over the white fur in the hat and maybe on some other parts of the car.

Anyone else want to join us for a day of country parades? Uxbridge and Port Perry are about 80 kms NE of Toronto core.

[RichHelms]

If anyone wants to join us, please PM me. The cars from the Hamilton parade were so great and we had a blast.

Here is a shot of my car at the Hamilton parade. I think I will drop the eyebrows and I am going to make the hat so the fur doesn't flap so much. The day was very windy. I should have my stuffed Max the dog including antler by this parade

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[RichHelms]

The Uxbridge parade will stage at 10:30 am at Brock St W and Centre Rd, Uxbridge, ON

Click for Google Map to Uxbridge Staging location

The parade begins at 11:00 pm

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The Port Perry parade will stage at 3:30 pm at Old Simcoe Rd and Reach St, Port Perry, ON at the fairground just east of the intersection.

Click for the Google Map to Port Perry Staging location

The parage begins at 5:00 pm

As the Port Perry parade is in the evening, lights on the cars are the order of the day. We can turn off the daytime running lights to avoid that distraction. I am adding icecicle lights to the white fur in the hat. Also dress warm. No sun to warm you up

[mattdaddy]

Put me down as a strong maybe for the Port Perry portion. (now where did I put that power inverter)?

[RichHelms]

If you come bring your son. He will have a blast. Just dress him warm.

[mattdaddy]

If you come bring your son. He will have a blast. Just dress him warm.

Lights? Check!
Intverter? Check!
Suction Cup Hooks? Check!
Funky Hats? ToDo tomorrow.

Me and the boy are looking forward to it Rich.

[RichHelms]

The Ux parade was a blast. I went home and made some mods to the hat. I am learning how to make it look great easily.

Off to Port Perry in 30 minutes. The biggest challenge today is keeping the car clean from the car wash to the starting point. We had to wipe it down again.

Also don't wax the car then expect to put on black rubber tape. I did the eyebrows with rubber tape. Worked great. Max the dog will ride on the windshield for PP

[RichHelms]

Here are a few pix from the Uxbridge Parade. This one I did by myself.

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[RichHelms]

Unlike the other parades we did, this one was at night. Mattdaddy was there also. My pictures were during the staging and Matt wasn't set up yet. Matt should be posting some pix also of his car.

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[RichHelms]

The float in front of us was a horse drawn wagon with lots of kids and lights. The old farmer looked back at my smart with the lights and asked what I was powering them with. I said a power inverter. He proclaimed that he had one of those last year. Junk. Burned out in 10 minutes. This year they had a generator.

Five minutes into the parade their generator died. My inverter lasted through the 1 hour parade. It did turn off after due to over heating. I let it cool and it worked fine.

[mattdaddy]

Thanks for extending the offer Rich. My son and I had a blast. Lots of great "Look smart cars" comments, although Rich's hat defintely was the talk of the parade.

My favourite comments was from a kid, "Nice Moped!". That one cracked me up.

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[RichHelms]

Several people have asked me about making the Santa hat.

Here is a summary of how I made mine. I did it all with a serger rather than a sewing machine.

The key is making the fur collar. You make it first fitting it to the top. The final steps are connecting on straps to hold it on.

Buy 80 cm of white fake fur that is 60 inches wide. If you buy shorter you will need more. There is practically nothing left after the hat is made. I bought long fur.

Cut into 4 20cm wide strips. The front and back of the car are 37 and 39 inches wide. The sides are 46 inches at the top. By the bottom of the strip there is more out front than back. Take the 4 strips. The key is to make the left and right the same. Just eyeballing it doesn't work. I cut the front and back as 37 and 39 inches long.

The sides I put on and pinned to the front/back. Then I serged then together. The extra pieces from the front/back is what you will make the pompom out of.

Then I serged the bottom to make it clean all the way around

Now you are going to cut the top triangles. You will make the 47" sides first.

The red felt or fur I used was 72" wide. This makes for a 6 foot high hat. I laid out the felt on a flat floor. I use a rotary cutter on a plastic cutting sheet. Fold the felt so that it is 24.5" across (1/2 of 49"). Now cut to form one triangle (6' high and 49" across the base. Throw away the 1/2 triangle.

Fold the next piece using the 1/2 triangle. Cut the next 49" triangle. It is upside down to the first.

Fold as if you are doing a third 49" triangle but cut as 41". Fold as 41" and cut 39". This is allowing for 1" seam on each

Sew the sides to the fur first. Then front and back. The top won't be a perfect fit. This is not important as you bury about 5 inches of the top into the pompom.

The scrap 20cm fur strips, cut two 20cm squares out.

I made the pompom inside out connecting on a point not the centre of the square. The point of the hat goes into the point of the pompom. I stuffed with some scrap fur.

Put the hat on and adjust. I ran strap loops from the front corner where the fur joins onto the felt to the mirror. I just loop the strap around the mirror and fit the hat on. A centre strap goes on the roof to keep the sides from drooping. On the back do straps to the trunk or inside the tailgate.

The picture below is looking at the hat upside down so that you can see the detail of the straps

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[For2]

Great Photos! Can someone make some banners, from the parade.
The pipe band and car, the lighted black car with candy cane etc.
These would be great seasonal banners!

[RichHelms]

The photo from above in the Port Perry parade prep is in today's Toronto Sun. Annette put it in with the cut line:

Dress Smart

Yes, occasional Autonet contributor Rich Helms is obsessed with his smart car, and now we've got the picture to prive it. It took a meter of fake fur and three meters of red felt, plus four hours and a bunch of nylon strapping and velcro, for Rich to make this six-foot-tall Santa hat for his beloved Smart. Car and hat have been featured in several parades this season in Hamilton, Uxbridge, Port Perry, Sunderland and Stouffville. Says Rich "I am working on a British military hat for the Stoney Creek Flag Day parade." Can't wait.

[RichHelms]

Last year Mattdaddy and I had our cars in the Port Perry Santa Parade. It was a blast as this parade is at night and we decorated our cars with christmas lights.

Pix of the 2005 parade in my blog

This years parade is Saturday Nov 25 meeting at the Port Perry Fairgrounds by 5:00 pm.

There is no fee for us to be in the parade as we are not showing a banner. Easy car needs to register. Reference my name in the registration so that we get grouped together

Dorothea and I are working on this years car decoration and we intend to top last years.

PS use LED lights as even the small lights draw too much power from inverters.

Anyone interested in joining us?

Attached File(s)

 Registration.pdf ( 382.71K ) Number of downloads: 61
 Parade_Instructions.pdf ( 57.46K ) Number of downloads: 71

 

[RichHelms]

I am set for the parade. I am putting the bike rack on with my pocket bike on the rack and a stuffed grinch riding the bike. I will put the hat on the car, with LED lights around the fur. Max the dig will probably sit up front or on top of the bike rack.

The stuffed Grinch I have is the perfect size for the pocketbike.

I'll post pictures after the parade

[mattdaddy]

No can do Rich, we have soccer from 3:00 to 4:00. Too bad, I was looking forward to it again.

Maybe we'll rush up to watch it though.

[RichHelms]

Both parades are done now. The only one leaves for us the Sunderland parade which I think is next Sat night. I love the night parades. The pocketbike with the Grinch and Max drew the most reaction.

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[Duck]

You have got to post that on the pocket bike forums man!! That is mint!!!!! (literally )

Sorry I didn't make it to the parade Rich - the Toronto smart group that had a meet this morning came by the race at Formlua Kartways and mentioned it but my knees are shot. I am in so much pain right now!!

-Iain

[darren]

You really need to spray the shell of your pocketbike a nice shade of stream green, Rich!