Santa wasn’t the only guest of honour at this Vancouver Island Christmas parade.

One man in the Comox Valley decided to turn a widely publicized newspaper typo into reality by showing up to the downtown Courtenay Christmas parade dressed up as Satan.

See also: Typo promoting Vancouver Island Christmas parade appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers

Tim Miller’s garb was prompted by an advertisement in the Comox Valley Record that told people there would be “Pictures with Satan” at 11:15 a.m.

When Miller decided to turn this typo into reality, it became clear that the demand for photos with Satan was high.

Originally, he planned to collect donations for You Are Not Alone (YANA) – a local group that offers help to Comox Valley families who need to travel for medical treatment for a child or for a pregnant mother.

However he was prevented from doing so as he had not signed up to be in the Christmas parade and therefore was not allowed to collect donations in the downtown core.

Nevertheless, his presence made for an entertaining afternoon, by all accounts.

Background

The Comox Valley Record advertisement went viral after several people shared it on their social media accounts, even landing a feature on American talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers last week.

The amusing mistake was also picked up by daily newspaper New York Post, calling it a “typo from hell”.

“An image of the ad smoldered across the internet, prompting more laughter than fire and brimstone,” writers NYP author Tamar Lapin.

In the face of all this attention, the BlackPress-owned media outlet issued an editorial acknowledging and apologizing for their mistake.

“The same number of eyes proofed the ad as with anything that runs through the advertising and production departments. Somehow, this was missed, and for that, we sincerely apologize – to the clients affected, as well as to any readers offended by the mistake.”

“As a newspaper, it is our responsibility to make sure the information we distribute is accurate – from the editorial department, as well as the advertising department.”

They end the editorial with a remark that while the typo was unfortunate, at least everyone knew when the Courtenay Christmas parade is happening!