Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
A very large crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the 1946 Santa Claus Parade on Mississaga Street in downtown Orillia.
Looking west from the corner of Peter Street can be seen the United Cigar Store, the Book Shop, Carters Grill and Maddens Jewellers.
This photo was not dated but the boarded up storefront at Carters tells us the date is 1946 or 1947 when a new window was being installed. Archie Carter, who started the restaurant in 1907, passed away in 1933 and management was taken over by his two children, Aileen and Veldon.
In 1936, Archie’s widow Nelle leased the store next door and started a book and gift business. She carried on until 1946 when she sold her business to Gordon Bradley who moved across the street to larger premises.
The taller boy wearing the toque in the front row, third from the left, is Jerry Walters. Jerry’s lifelong interest in horses may have developed from viewing these early parades.
The team of horses pulling the cutter was owned by David Parks and was driven by his helper, nicknamed “Friday.”
Davy Parks was a teamster who lived at 90 Poughkeepsie St. for over 40 years. He owned a horse- drawn wagon equipped with a large woodcutting buzz saw. Wood slabs and logs were delivered by the cord in four-foot sections in the days when most of the homes in town were heated with wood stoves.
The buzz saw was a familiar sound around town when Davy Parks and his helpers would back his wagon into a neighbourhood driveway for a few hours of cutting wood into manageable pieces.
