Although the weather got pretty cold once the sun went down last Friday, about 1,000 people spent their evening in downtown Westlock for the annual Christmas Light Up festival.
And among those, the kids hoping to get chance to visit with Santa Claus were very well represented, Light Up committee secretary Benita Pedersen said.
“We prepped 750 candy bags to hand out to kids, and we just about ran out,” she said,
She added none of it could have happened without the generous support of area businesses, and the small crew of volunteers who put their time in to make the festival a success.
“It’s the community spirit that makes these events a success, and it just gets better and better every year,” Pedersen said.
Santa Claus himself made a grand entrance up Main Street in a town fire truck before a short parade made its way back south, with 17 entries registered, including local elected officials and MLA Maureen Kubinec.
Pedersen said she would have liked to see 30 or more floats, and hopes to be able to increase those numbers next year.
She added having some street-booth vendors was also very successful this year, with different groups offering hot dogs, burgers and hot chocolate to help keep people warm.
There was standing room only in the North Country Market, where families were lined up to get their photos taken with Santa Claus and the Grinch — who apparently had no plans to steal Christmas this year.
The festival finished up with a fireworks display in Georges Whissell Park, which went on for close to half an hour and prompted many oohs and aahs from the crowd.
George McCay, who was there with his two young kids Emily and Arthur, said he thought the festival was a fantastic idea all around. He added he was impressed with the turnout.
“It’s nice to see so many people braving the cold to be out here,” he said. “And it’s great excuse to get out of the house in the winter.”
For Emily, 9, the highlight came right at the end of the evening.
“The fireworks were my favourite,” she said.
Arthur, 6, said the fireworks were too loud for his taste but he was happy for the chance to see Santa.
“He left Rudolph at the North Pole,” he observed.
Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger said the turnout, which he estimated at well over 1,000, included a lot of young families which is encouraging.
“I don’t know how many, but there had to be 50 babies that are going to be celebrating their first Christmas, and that’s great,” he said. “That tells me there are lots of young families in the area and that’s great for a community.”
He added the event spoke volumes about the kind of community spirit that exists in the Westlock area — not just that so many people would come out to celebrate, but the fact that volunteers would put in so much of their own time to pull it off.
“A big shout out to the volunteers,” he said. “Very few volunteers put this thing on, and they should be congratulated because they’re done a ton of work.”
As for what should change next year, he said it comes down to making it “bigger and better,” with more participation from area businesses to keep people downtown to do their Christmas shopping in Westlock.
Pedersen echoed that sentiment, saying the most significant change she hopes to see going forward is some more businesses getting into the Light Up spirit with big Christmas displays at their stores.
Of course, she and the rest of the volunteers will have many months to make it all happen for next year’s Christmas Light Up, which has already been scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20, 2015.
