Santa Claus almost missed this year’s Thorsby Christmas Parade, but thankfully, he got the word about the change of the parade’s time before he left the North Pole.

The annual Christmas parade will not be held on a Friday night this year but will come through town on Saturday morning. Lineup will be at 10 a.m. at the old garment factory building, and the parade will start about 30 minutes later.

Council member Neil Benson said he was told that Santa Claus was going to be in the parade.

“They told me that [Santa] called and said he was interested in riding in the parade,” Benson said. “I’m glad he called this year because he might have missed it since we weren’t having it on a Friday night this year.”

One of the reasons why the parade was moved to the daytime is safety. Some of the city’s streets were dark, and it was difficult to see the floats.

“It got a little dangerous because it was so dark,” Benson said. “This will allow everyone to see the whole parade.”

There is no application to fill out for the parade. Benson said anyone who wants to in the parade just needs to show up and get in line.

“The band usually leads the parade out, and then everyone else just falls in line,” Benson said.

The town will likely be having a short program following the parade. April Moon, who has been trying to organize the event, said she hopes to have several local church children’s choirs to participate in the event.

Moon said that no event had been planned. So, she and others are trying to organize an event.

“We wanted to make sure that this event continued,” Moon said.

The event will take place just after the parade ends inside the Thorsby High School auditorium.