A Mile of Make Believe examines the unique history of the Santa Claus parade in Canada. This volume focuses on the Eaton’s sponsored parades that occurred in Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg as well as the shorter-lived parades in Calgary and Edmonton. There is also a discussion of small town alternatives, organized by civic groups, service clubs, and chambers of commerce.

By focusing on the pioneering effort of the Eaton’s department store Steve Penfold argues that the parade ultimately represented a paradoxical form of cultural power: it allowed Eaton’s to press its image onto public life while also reflecting the decline of the once powerful retailer. Penfold’s analysis reveals the "corporate fantastic" – a visual and narrative mix of meticulous organization and whimsical style– and its influence on parade traditions. Steve Penfold’s considerable analytical skills have produced a work that is simultaneously a cultural history, history of business and commentary on consumerism. Professional historians and the general public alike would be remiss if this wasn’t on their holiday wish list.

Steve Penfold is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Donut: A Canadian History (UTP 2008).

Steve Penfold's profile page

"[Steve Penfold] situates [the Santa Claus Parade] within North American parade culture and its use of public space, a growing twentieth-century consumer culture and the increasing centrality of Santa Claus in its Christmas narrative as well as the rise of the department store that dominated the retail landscape."

University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018

Steve Penfold has "crafted a smart and funny account of a lost piece of Canadiana."

Blacklocks Reporter, November 5, 2016

‘This book should find its way down our chimneys as an excellent example of going beneath the surface to uncover the deeper structure of our collective past.’

Canadian Historical Review vol 98:02:2017

"A Mile Of Make Believe recounts with warmth and nostalgia the Christmas extravaganza sponsored by a family-owned corporation once the largest retailer in the country. This is not a dry municipal history; Eaton’s in its heyday sponsored Santa parades from Edmonton to Montréal. Author Steve Penfold, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, has crafted a smart and funny account of a lost piece of Canadiana."

Blacklock’s Reporter, September 15, 2018