INNISFAIL – Every year during the holiday season there is a special day when Blaine Staples can be found proudly cruising the downtown core with a big smile.
Staples, president of the Innisfail & District Chamber of Commerce, had plenty of big smiles on Dec. 7 for the annual Hometown Christmas.
“I think it's important for the community. It brings people out,” said Staples. “It's also important for our retail community to encourage people to shop local. It's always the first weekend in December and it’s really a chance for our local retailers to showcase their things and for us to have an event that really brings the town together.
“Innisfail is really getting to be quite a Christmas town.”
Staples was quick to point out the 28th annual Innisfail RCMP Check Stop was busy on the same day with record setting generosity just outside the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104 on Main Street.
He also noted the town had just hosted the fourth annual Innisfail Festival of Trees, and Discovery Wildlife Park’s Light the Night event being busy every evening until Jan. 5 with a holiday season display of more than a million lights.
“I've kind of got this vision that we need to now coordinate everything and market it more outside Innisfail. It'd be a great place to come from Calgary to spend the weekend,” said Staples.
Hometown Christmas was more than just an event to find good deals during the holiday season, especially on Dec. 7 when the weather was warm and inviting.
There were horse-drawn wagon rides available to take a fun tour of the downtown.
Staff at Servus Credit Union were serving hot chocolate to locals and guests, and if the weather turned a bit nasty there was a fire pit available at a downtown corner to keep the hands warm.
Later in the early evening the legion hosted a free family movie night showing the family adventure film The Polar Express.
But it was also a big day for local retailers and entrepreneurs to shine and show their best stuff for anyone wanting to find the perfect gift - Innisfail-style - for special people in their lives.
And the Christmas Farmers Market at the Royal Canadian Legion was a great place to start.
It was busy with about 30 vendors, and with plenty of excited children and Santa Claus offering loads of treats to the young and old.
“We are seeing the excitement. We did the community business walk a few weeks ago and everybody at that time was excited about the event and planning what they were doing for today, whether they were planning to have sales on or putting out warming stations or sampling products,” said Staples.
But there was also the prolonged postal strike, which Staples said has forced businesses to find creative way to play vendors, and use online e-transfers more and with optimum efficiently.
“But overall I think most businesses probably had their Christmas inventory in place before the postal strike,” said Staples. “I think really the biggest thing is that personal packages that people are sending and Christmas cards aren't going to make it this year.
“But it's unfortunate that something as ingrained in the fabric of the country could be holding everybody ransom at this time of year.”
