General This lakeside community organized an annual float parade to bring cottagers together By Sara Romano Published: September 25, 2024 share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Copy Link Cancel View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 Photo courtesy Lori Santyr Na na na na na na na na BOATMAN! Make way for Boatman and Rowbin. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 Photo courtesy Lori Santyr A ‘57 Chevy takes the water Just cruising around the lake. View in Fullscreen 1 2 3 4 Photo courtesy Lori Santyr. Peace out! It’s always peace and love at the cottage. View in Fullscreen Related galleries Perched on the Bay of Fundy, these curious, colourful cottages might be Nova Scotia’s best-kept secret At the Helliwell cottage—and all over cottage country—pickleball is serving up hours of fun It’s huge! 5 giant facts about Canada 1 2 3 4 This lakeside community organized an annual float parade to bring cottagers together It’s the first Sunday of August on Big Brother Lake, Ont. As the lake association’s annual meeting wraps up, most cottagers are heading to their docks, cameras and drinks in hand. Music starts to play in the distance and they know the main event is about to begin: a parade of decorated watercraft directed by cottagers decked out in elaborate and outrageous costumes. Lori Santyr, a retired principal who lives in Toronto, bought her cottage with her husband in 2007. “In our area of the lake, the cottages are quite spaced out,” says Lori, whose own place is at the end of a bay. “You can barely see your neighbours, let alone get to know them.” Every year when the lake’s water level drops in the summer, a small island emerges in the centre of the bay in front of Lori’s cottage. Despite no particular connection to parades, let alone parades in the water, she and her family joked for years about having a costumed procession around the island. “We wanted to get to know our neighbours more.” In 2017, Lori decided it was time to make this a reality. “I convinced a friend on the lake, Gerry Mallory, to jump in his kayak and go dock-to-dock to spread the word,” she says. The first “flotilla” kicked off with just a few couples in canoes, pedal boats, and a floating picnic table with a motor. Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Ursula and King Triton, vikings wearing helmets made of pasta-strainers, and a Hawaiian tiki bar (driven by Gerry) hit the lake’s west bay. Some spectators jumped into their boats and joined the parade, others simply cheered from the docks and took photos. “It was our Flintstones-themed boat that really got the lake’s attention,” says Lori. “They still say it was ‘shockingly good.’ ” Since then, the number of floats in the annual parade has grown by a few each year; the lake has seen a Batmobile, a ’57 Chevy, a gondola, and even a canoe decked out as a mock OPP vessel. (The “cop” issued tickets—and, because it’s Canada, Timbits—to the participants who had the most unlawfully outrageous costumes.) Lori emphasizes that the parade has never been a competition. “We just want people to get on the lake and have fun,” she says. “Now, when you canoe or kayak around the lake, everybody knows everybody. Related Story An ingredient in Doritos can turn mice’s skin transparent Related Story Locals spot what appears to be an alligator in Lake Erie Related Story ‘Feast or famine’ Cottage country tourism industry struggling with labour shortage