A little rain wasn’t going to stop a tractor parade, or the thousands of spectators who lined the streets of Virgil, umbrellas in hand, cheering on members of the farming community who put on a spectacular, magical event Thursday evening.
Joe Pillitteri, one of those who was able to look down from the height of the elaborately decorated grape harvester he was driving, estimated the crowd at no less than 3,000, and possibly closer to 4,000.
“It was amazing — I had so much fun,” he says, admitting to being “moved to tears” while driving by the many people gathered and waving from Pleasant Manor Retirement Village and its long-term care home, along the road and from balconies and windows.
“Families were stacked, watching from a little road I didn’t know existed. Families were waving from cars, residents were waving from their windows. It was just too much to take in, really incredible.”
He hadn’t expected a great turn-out because of the weather, he says. Yet from his position he could see people he recognized not just from Niagara-on-Lake but from across the region who had driven to town in what had been described earlier in the day as icy, treacherous conditions, “to stand outside on a 2-degree, horrible rainy night. Seeing their faces as we went by really put me in a positive space. It was an awesome event for our community.”
Businesses are often called upon to help out at community events, providing time or resources, and do so willingly, Pillitteri says, but when he got to the arena parking lot and saw the number of people from the farming community who had not only turned out, but put tremendous effort into decorating their tractors, “I felt like I was part of a really special, rare community event, and I loved it.”
He drove his Lakeview Vineyard Equipment grape harvester, and Isaac van der Zalm, who did all the decorating, unpacking “boxes and boxes of lights from Penner’s” Building Centre drove a Lakeview tractor with a sprayer.
Charlotte Tutu was in a small tractor with nine-year-old son E.J., who was really excited to be in the parade — his grandparents live in Pleasant Manor apartments, and he wanted to do it for them.
He did most of the decorating, and dressed as the Grinch, with a Christmas tree and presents on the tractor, says Charlotte, who described their entry as the Grinch “stealing the presents and the tree and getting out of Whoville.”
Participating in the parade was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, she says, but like Pilliteri, says seeing the seniors waving from their balconies and windows, enjoying the parade without having to leave home, was the best part.
One of the stars of the parade was noteworthy not because of elaborate decorations, but because of the lack of them.
Colin McCarthy, a Grade 12 Governor Simcoe Secondary School student from NOTL, drove a family tractor named Fergie in the parade — a 1950 Ferguson TEA-20.
While that might not mean a lot to many of the spectators, they would have seen McCarthy smiling and proudly waving from the vintage tractor, which has been retired to plowing snow and moving things around on their rural property.
McCarthy has been driving it since before before he was old enough to have a licence, and speaks of it as an old friend, one with character — Fergie decided he didn’t want his headlights on, so they stopped working early in the parade, he says.
He had plans to do a better job of decorating, and had hoped to dress up himself — he did have a hat with lights, he pointed out — but time got away from him, and he decided the unique tractor with a few brightly-lit colourful strings would be good for this year. He hopes he has an opportunity to participate next year and have Fergie a little more lit up.
“If there’s a parade next year, I’ll definitely be there,” he says.
However, the reaction to his tractor from the spectators and other farmers this year was very positive, he added. “Everyone loved it —it was awesome. And I had a really good time. What I heard was ‘it was the best tractor in the parade with the least decorations.’ It stuck out as different.”
After the parade, Dorothy and Erwin Wiens, organizers of the event, took some time to talk about what went well, and what could be done better in the future —although Erwin was quick to point out he would prefer for the parade not to be labelled “an annual event.”
“We really enjoy doing it, we love doing it, and we want to do it again. But it’s a lot of work.”
They began planning the parade last August, when they applied to the town for a permit. They spent time decorating their two tractors off and on during the last six weeks, and spent about $1,600.
In addition to decorations, the tractors also require battery packs or generators to operate the lights. That’s a lot to ask of farmers who participate, Erwin says, but they too loved it.
“People really got into it, and this year they wanted to out-do last year.”
The farmers had fun coming up with ideas of what to do and how to do it, he added. “This was a family event for farmers, getting together and creating their tractors. They all said they had so much fun.”
And as much as he hopes and expects to do it again next year, he doesn’t want to promise to it will be an annual event. “I don’t want to make promises I might not be able to deliver.”
As to what they could improve upon in the future, Erwin says, it would be “the logistics.”
Town staff really stepped up to help, ensuring the route was clear, and creating rolling blocks, closing off intersections so the tractors could move through together. Although the parade ran very smoothly, he’d like to see if they can keep the tractors a closer together through the intersections, to reduce the time traffic is stopped, he explained.
“It’s a big deal to get 30 tractors through an intersection. It took about eight minutes. It wasn’t a problem, but we can always try to make it better.”
The best part, says Dorothy, is having the parade move through the streets of Virgil. “I heard that so often, ‘it’s so nice to have it in Virgil.’ And farmers get a real kick out of it.”
For many of them, this year was their first time in the parade, and “and they all said how much fun it was.”
As it was for the spectators — there were families who set up tents outside along the sides of roads to watch, protected from the rain, and others who set up chairs and made it a neighbourhood event, she says.
“The weather was a conversation,” adds Erwin, “but we couldn’t change the date. And as Ross Robinson said (as he helped with the marshalling), “the weather is perfect. It’s winter, and it’s Canada.”
The Wiens had to scramble Thursday afternoon to keep Santa and Mrs. Claus dry.
“I was going to give them umbrellas to hold,” says Dorothy.
But Erwin had a better idea. He attached their heavy-duty patio umbrella to the float, keeping Santa and Mrs. Claus “warm and toasty” in their place of honour, on the float that wrapped up the parade — at least for this year.