Santa is coming to town this weekend, expect traffic delays

Saturday is the Parade of Lights and Sunday is the Light Up Bedford Parade

CITYnews halifax \ Meghan Groff

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Santa is taking time out of his busy scheduled to visit the Halifax area this weekend. 

He’ll be here to participate in a couple of parades, and that means some traffic delays are expected.

On Saturday, thousands are expected to descend on Halifax’s downtown core for the Parade of Lights, which will shut down streets, limit parking and detour some Halifax Transit routes.

Street closures along the parade route and some adjacent streets are expected to start at 3 p.m.

Due to construction, the route will be a bit different this year, starting at 6 p.m. just north of Citadel Hill on Rannie Drive and Gottingen Street. It will then head down Duke Street, south on Barrington Street, west onto Spring Garden Road, travel south onto South Park Street and west on University Avenue passing the IWK before finishing at Robie Street.

If you’re heading downtown, keep in mind the primary travel lanes running north and south through the Cogswell Interchange from Barrington Street south of Cornwallis Street are closed for construction in the Cogswell District.

You may be better off taking transit if you can. Halifax Regional Municipality says detours of bus routes won’t start at 6 p.m., so that shouldn’t be a factor until the parade starts.

The Alderney Ferry will cross the harbour every 15-minutes from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s free during this time period, but passengers are encouraged to make a donation of food or money to the Parker Street Food Bank.

And while you’re downtown, you might want to pop by the former Halifax Memorial Library at Grafton Park.

A Holiday Light Show debuts at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and will play every evening from sunset to 11 p.m. until December 26.

Santa will then head up to Bedford for Sunday evening’s Light Up Bedford Parade.

That starts near DeWolfe Park at 5:45 p.m. and will travel up the Bedford Highway to the Bedford Place Mall.