Several residents, volunteers and local dignitaries piled into the Queensview Retirement Community in Paris as the Grand River Council on Aging (GRCOA) announced the date and details for this year’s Grand Parade on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.
The Grand Parade is an annual family-friendly fundraiser walk that takes place in 35 different locations across Canada, and helps to support local charities who provide essential care and services for aging citizens across the country.
The fifth annual Brantford event will be taking place at the Kiwanis Field behind Pauline Johnson Collegiate and Vocational School on Saturday, September 20, 2025, and funds raised from the walk will go towards maintaining essential programs and resources to help keep older adults within the local community engaged, informed and connected.
On the day of, participants of all ages and mobility are encouraged to walk or roll the Kiwanis track, but for those who are unable to attend, they can walk from wherever they are, or take part in the “Parade at Home Challenge.”
“The Grand Parade is truly flexible. You can do it at our on-site activity at Kiwanis Field, which is a nice cushioned track that you can roll on or walk on. It’s a really great time and we encourage everybody to come out,” said Linda Moyer, Administration Coordinator for the GRCOA. “If you’re on vacation during that time, you can also do an off-site walk. So you can make a team, fundraise and then send us a picture of where it was that you ended up walking. There’s also the opportunity to have the parade at home, and that’s a challenge that we started, to encourage participants that live in retirement homes to also celebrate and join the parade. So we provide the participating retirement homes with balloons, pom-poms, buttons and all sorts of things, so that they can have their own event right where they live.”
Since the event began in 2020, the local Grand Parade has raised nearly $120,000 in support of GRCOA initiatives and this year, event organizers are hoping to recruit 30 teams and 110 walkers to help raise $35,000.
Walkers who raise $150 or more, will earn a special t-shirt and can take part in activities such as cheerleading, face painting, raffles, a photo booth, and refreshments.
As of August 11, there are currently 22 teams and 48 walkers that have signed up to fundraise and with their help, along with sponsorship dollars, the GRCOA has raised 35 per cent of its goal with $12,433.
As far as what to expect for the event day, check in will begin at 10 a.m., followed by opening remarks at 10:45 a.m., and the walk will start at 11:00 a.m. At noon, a light meal will be served and the event is set to wrap up by 1:00 p.m.
Lucy Marco, Executive Director for the GRCOA, said that the event will help the non-for-profit organization carry out essential work in the community and that all proceeds will go towards supporting GRCOA activities such as virtual workshops, newsletters, an INFO HUB with 350-plus local resources, a seniors discount directory and support for the development of an “age-friendly community.”
“Did you know that 37 per cent of our population in the City of Brantford and the County of Brant is 55-plus? It’s vital that the Grand River Council on Aging raise sufficient funds to support what we call an age-friendly community, and that’s for a lifetime, from five to 105,” said Marco. “And so the GRCOA values the input that we receive from those that are from the older side of the population, and we share that with those that are younger. …We help to guide the community with the voices of the older adults, and we do that through workshops and community newsletters, an age-friendly calendar and a senior discount directory; we do all of that for the residents of this community. The Grand Parade, our main fundraiser, celebrates aging, encourages team spirit and supports the essential work of the Grand River Council on Aging.”
After the various speeches at the launch, one team in particular, Skyline Living, playfully challenged Marco’s team, “Lucy’s Strollers,” to some friendly competition.
“Lucy and her team have been the top fundraiser every year, they’ve actually been in the top ten across Canada, so hers is the team to beat. Last year, at the end of the Grand Parade, Skyline Living participated with us for the first time and they raised $1,000, which was the seventh highest amount of 26 teams,” said Moyer. “We were very pleased with that result, but De Vinson thought they could do better and so she challenged her team to look at how they could improve and her quote was, ‘we’re coming after Lucy’s Strollers.’”
Given that, at the time of the launch, Lucy’s Strollers had already raised $2,270, which has since jumped to $3,210, Moyer and Marco playfully handed the opposing team Grand Parade-themed socks to “help you pull up your socks and go after Lucy’s team.”
For those looking to help boost their fundraising efforts, the Skyline Living team will be hosting a summer car wash at 575 Park Road North in Brantford on Wednesday, August 13, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and all donations will go towards the GRCOA.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
