Bigger, better and good for the whole community.
That’s the reception to Thursday’s fourth annual Tractor Parade in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which filled the streets of Virgil with rumbling machinery, bright lights, festive music and Christmas cheer.
“It went perfect,” said Coun. Erwin Wiens, who founded the event on a humble scale in 2021 with his wife, Dorothy Soo-Wiens.
“The two major things the town gave us was more space at the arena (to stage the tractors), which was helpful, and closing the roads made a huge difference,” he added.
The parade was first presented during the COVID-19 pandemic, rolling by Radiant Care Pleasant Manor in Virgil to provide elderly and shut-in NOTLers with a Christmas exhibition.
That edition attracted 19 tractors, mostly of the smaller variety, decked out in Christmas lights and decor.
The next year, it grew to 65 units and the route moved beyond the general area of the seniors’ home.
This year, 78 units from small tractors to huge harvesters and semi trucks joined the promenade and meandered through an even larger portion of the community.
As they made their way through the streets of Virgil, many gathered on the sidewalks to watch the illuminated vehicles make their procession around the village.
“It’s a spectacle,” said Wiens. “It’s amazing.”
“Everybody seems to want to always do a little bit better and do more and I’m always so impressed.”
Parade sideshow for a good cause
That extra mile extended to the home of Virgil’s Megan Dyck where 32 of the tractors rerouted their paths to swing by the 15-year-old’s home.
Dyck was born with a rare genetic condition known as trisomy 8 and was diagnosed earlier this year with clear cell carcinoma.
Knowing this year will likely be her last Christmas, the family had been putting out calls within the community to help her make it a little more enjoyable.
On Nov. 27, employees of a local equipment rental company showed up at her home on Homestead Drive and draped the property with Christmas lights and displays.
Later the same night, the Wiens dressed up one of their tractors to pass by the house and give her a taste of what the community was expecting at the actual parade.
“And so then what we decided to do yesterday (Dec. 12) was ask if anybody wanted to go and we actually had to cap it at 32.”
