The families on the benches near Christie Pits park had a look of festive expectancy as they waited for the Santa Claus Parade to begin.

The problem was, nobody was coming. No clowns, no floats, no jolly senior in red. On the western stretch of Bloor Street — the home of the parade for decades, there were no pre-dawn lawn chairs, no stockpiles of snacks, no coffee shops bustling with parents looking for a break from the cold.

Banchiamlak Nigussie laughed about it later. She thought it was a little too quiet. Her husband had to get winter tires on the car, so he suggested she and the boys check out the parade. He told her there would be lots of people waiting at the park. Nigussie and her sons arrived from Ethiopia four months ago, and they were excited for their first Santa Claus parade. The good news was it wasn’t too late. “Are you going to see Santa?” her son Briuk, 8, asked the other families caught up in the snafu, waiting patiently on the benches.

The Santa Claus parade had made its way through Toronto since 1905. The “triumphal march of the northern monarch,” as it was once called, usually winds its way downtown from the northwest. Since 1980 or so, the parade has started near Christie Pits park. Because of ongoing city construction the route changed this year. “We just couldn’t continue that tradition,” said Alfred Iannarelli, the parade’s general manager. “We did not have a choice.” Organizers began looking at route options last January and decided Bloor Street East would be ideal with its subway stops and flat, wide terrain.

On Sunday morning, families poured out of Sherbourne subway station to stake their claim on sunny slivers of sidewalk not darkened by condos and office towers. There were a few families who mistakenly came to the old route, where space was widely and suspiciously available. Terry Lewis, who was not affiliated with the parade, worried that might happen, so he walked by with a map of the new route to point people in the right direction.

Nigussie and her boys, a family from France, and Arturo and Cristina Casupanan from Niagara Falls walked to the TTC together. Arturo smiled and said it would be his first time on the subway. He and his wife had seen the parade on television but wanted to see it in real life. “This is more like it,” Cristina Casupanan said when they walked out of the underground concourse on Bloor Street East, spreading her arms at the festiveness of it all. The Casupanans watched the parade with Nigussie and her sons, united by their mistake.

“I have a question,” Briuk said as they settled into a spot to watch. “Is Santa Jesus’ Dad or Jesus’ Son?”

Santa’s genealogy was forgotten as Briuk and his brother Lazaras, 9, got high fives, bouncy balls, stickers, and bracelets from the celebrity clowns who kicked off the parade. “Maybe one day you’ll be in the parade too,” Cristina Casupanan said to the boys.

There were marching bands with candy cane drumsticks, glittering floats of corporate cheer, and people dressed in elaborate animal costumes. Nothing escaped Briuk and Lazaras as they kept the crowd informed: “I see giant people. I see horses. I see flags. I see a joker holding a bag. I see drums. I see a farmer.” As people shouted Merry Christmas, Briuk picked up the habit and returned the greetings to every group he could name: “Merry Christmas reindeer! Merry Christmas octopuses! Merry Christmas fishes! Merry Christmas Mario! Merry Christmas cookie makers! Merry Christmas owls!”

His mom smiled as she recorded the parade on her phone. Briuk leaves nobody out. What was his favourite part? “This part,” he said, not taking his eyes off the next marching band.

After an hour and a half, children stood on their tiptoes and strained to see the final float in the distance. Little girls screamed in excitement. Passing clowns spread the good news. Toddlers on shoulders pointed.

“Santa’s almost here,” Briuk said. And suddenly there he was, talking about his reindeer as Briuk and his brother jumped up and down.

“That was amazing,” Briuk said.