Tractors will roll through Virgil on Thursday for the second annual Christmas tractor parade. 

“We have 33 (tractors) as compared to 18 from last year,” said Dorothy Soo-Wiens, who organized last year’s event with her husband, Erwin. 

Leading this year’s parade will be a fire truck, followed by town crier Thomas Pekar, with his decked out Kubota tractor.

The parade begins at 6 p.m. behind the arena in Virgil. 

It will then turn right onto Four Mile Creek Road, then right onto Pleasant Lane, past Pleasant Manor, and continue onto Eden Street. It will head down Line 1 Road, go right on Concession Road 4, right on Line 2 Road, and finally right onto Four Mile Creek Road, ending at the arena.

Soo-Wiens is excited to bring the tractor parade back to Niagara-on-the-Lake. The idea came to fruition last year when the Christmas parade was cancelled due to COVID.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s so sad. What are we going to do?’ ” said Soo-Weins. 

Then on the news she saw that Selkirk, Ont., had a small tractor parade. 

“I said, ‘Oh, my goodness, that’s what we’re gonna do!’ ” she said. 

Within two weeks, Niagara-on-the-Lake had a tractor parade. 

Some people Soo-Wiens has talked to said they’ll be having people over to watch the parade from their driveway this year.

“It’s lovely to hear of all those new traditions that you can have from watching a parade,” she said. 

Last year’s crowd favourite was the Hummel Properties tractor, which was decked out as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

“You can see the creativity coming out. You can see the fun Christmas spirit of everyone,” she said. 

Since the tractors all will be gathering behind the arena, Soo-Wiens asks people to park in the front of the facility.

“I think even all the farmers and everyone involved are excited about just really decorating it up as best as they can,” she said.