Only a few more sleeps before the jolly fella in the red suit arrives in High River.

The Santa Claus parade goes this Friday (Dec. 2) downtown.

Santa's biggest little elf, Ted Dawson, says the parade's the big event but there's more to see and do.

"We have the light up in the (George Lane) park as part of the parade festivities and then you can get the map from highriverchristmas.ca and after the parade and touring around the park you can tour around town and have a look at what everybody else is doing."

The website has an interactive map you can have on your phone that will tell you which businesses and homes are decked out and where you can go see them.

"It's really great to see the involvement of the community in decorating their homes and businesses," Dawson says.

parade

He says the volunteer support has been incredible, especially from businesses like Fortis which helped put up lights on the tall trees in the park and HERC Rentals, who provided 40-foot articulated lifts.

Dawson says there are over a thousand hours of volunteer time just in George Lane Park alone.

To enter a float in the parade it's free but pre-registration is required to let organizers know how many floats they'll have and what kinds of vehicles are being brought to the parade for insurance purposes.

While music isn't required, Dawson says Christmas lights are, again for insurance purposes so vehicles can be seen at night.