If the first Saturday in December is on the horizon, then you can bet the prep work for the East Norriton Holiday Parade is in full swing.

When one of the township’s most anticipated events rolls out for the 26th year from East Norriton Middle School, 330 Roland Drive, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1 (rain date, Sunday Dec. 2 ), onto Stoney Creek Drive, to Germantown Pike and winds down at Hillcrest Plaza, 126 W. Germantown Pike, the North Pole’s most famous citizen will once again be the star attraction at an annual event that is always full of crowd-pleasing attractions.

“Santa will roam through the crowd to greet people for the holiday season and to stop and take pictures as people want them,” noted Kimberly Tornetta-Attanasio of Tornetta Realty Corp, the management agency for parade presenter Hillcrest Plaza Shopping Center, writes Gary Puleo in The Times Herald.

This year’s beneficiary of the Holiday Parade is the Patrician Society of Central Norristown, Tornetta-Attanasio said.

Founded 37 years ago by the Rev. Gerard McCaffrey, former pastor of St. Patrick’s parish, the food cupboard provides more than 5,000 grocery baskets for eligible families in a typical year.

The long list of local charities that have benefitted from the Holiday Parade over the years includes Feel the Warmth; Suiting Warriors; Children’s Aid Society; Mission Kids; Starting School in Style and Chief John J. McGowan III Memorial Scholarship Foundation, to name a few.

“There are so many organizations that have been around a really long time we’re just trying to make our way through all of them,” Tornetta-Attanasio added. “This year the Patrician Society was chosen by our merchants. It’s always a tough decision because every charitable organization is so worthy you wish you could give to everybody every year. But we hope to get to every organization someday. The first handful of years we donated to Toys For Tots and for about the last 20 years we’ve done a different organization every year.”

The Hillcrest Plaza Merchants Association has now raised around $120,000 for charity through Holiday Parade sponsorships, raffle ticket sales and donations.

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