The Innisfail & District Historical Village took advantage of the glorious late fall weather on Nov. 29 to host its annual Christmas at the Village event to mark the start of the holiday season.
For the first time, the event was held on a Saturday afternoon and the scores of visitors who attended were not disappointed, as they comfortably visited the village's venues under brilliant sunshine to catch a glimpse of the holiday spirit.
“It is absolutely beautiful. Last year it was minus 40. It was freezing. But we have enough snow that the sleigh rides are going just perfectly, which is wonderful because last year we had to cancel them because it was so cold,” said Jane Duncalfe, events coordinator for the village. “It had been very cold as a rule, and we thought it would be fun to do it on an afternoon and have people come and enjoy the sunshine, and they are able to today.
“We have never had it on a Sunday afternoon before, forgetting it was Grey Cup,” she said, noting the cost of admission to the event was a food donation to the Innisfail and District Food Bank. “But we didn't want to interfere with any of the businesses in town having things on Saturday. On Sunday, families have the afternoon to come out and enjoy it.”
The event featured many activities and attractions to reflect a fun-filled Christmas season, including sleigh rides, the arrival of Santa Claus, elves working in the Tea Room to help children with crafts, the IQ Quartet singing Christmas carols in the Hespero Church and Tea Room, and plenty of treats for the young and old, including donated candies and oranges from Kevin's nofrills.
With the event also being a fundraiser for the village, there were three donated Christmas trees set up for a silent auction, including one in the Bowden train station parlour donated by the Coffee Cottage, a second one in the Parker Cabin from the The Co-operators insurance, and a third one in the Tea Room that was donated by the Innisfail Kinette Club.
At the end of the day, Innisfailians proved to be generous as the village collected 77 pounds of food for the local food bank.
Meanwhile, the village will continue to display plenty of holiday spirit this month with a spectacular light show, with most of its buildings decorated inside and out. The village light show began on Dec. 3. It will be open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening from 5 to 7 p.m.
Jane Duncalfe
"It is absolutely beautiful. Last year it was minus 40. It was freezing. But we have enough snow that the sleigh rides are going just perfectly, which is wonderful because last year we had to cancel them because it was so cold."
