Brockville Museum’s #TBT – Thursday, November 30, 2023

Brockville – Here is this week’s Brockville Museum #TBT.

Last week’s #TBT on the Santa Claus Parade brought up a lot of memories of Con Darling, so we thought it only appropriate to share this 1963 picture of Brockville’s “Ambassador of Smiles” for this week’s #TBT.

Conrad Darling was born on January 8, 1926, in Brockville.

Darling walked in Brockville’s Santa Claus parade for several decades dressed as a clown in a tattered suit, broken umbrella and pushing a three-wheeled baby carriage with a live chicken (named Myrtle) inside.

He made a point to greet every child. He also participated in a variety of other parades in Ontario and Quebec, including the Grey Cup and Santa Claus Parades in Toronto. He just wanted to make people smile.

Darling passed away in 1993. In 1995, the community rallied to install a bronze statue of “Brockville’s Ambassador of Smiles” at one of his favourite spots: Blockhouse Island.

The Brockville Museum is very fortunate to have some of Darling’s outfits in our collection (and on display), as well as the baby carriage.