BARRHEAD – Woodlands County councillors passed a motion at their Oct. 12 meeting to provide $600 more than what was originally budgeted for a donation to a resident who puts on an annual Christmas light-up.
Councillors received the request for a $1,600 donation via a letter from Gwen Dionne, who resides on an acreage near Whitecourt.
Dionne was originally scheduled to make her request in-person, but community service coordinator Heather Anderson explained that Dionne has been dealing with some health issues and that likely prevented her from attending the council meeting.
Anderson explained that Dionne puts up a “Candy Cane Lane” style display on her property, assembling a huge array of Christmas lights and decorations for visitors to check out.
In the past, she has also hosted at least one night where visitors can go for sleigh rides and get free hot chocolate. Dionne also hosts a draw that children can enter in order to win prizes.
The cost of admission to this event is a donation to the food bank. In her letter, Dionne stated that in 2022, around 300 people showed up for the sleigh ride and she was able to collect 1,750 pounds of food last year.
Dionne’s letter indicated that she would like to host two such nights this year. While Woodlands County has assisted her with a $1,000 donation in previous years and had that much budgeted for the 2023 event, she was requesting an additional $600 to help with the increased expenses.
Dionne stated that $1,200 would cover the cost of the sleigh rides, while $400 would go towards the gifts and hot chocolate.
Anderson said the extra cash could come from the Community Services budget, noting that they have some extra funds available for programming and felt this would fit the bill.
Prior to making the motion to provide the extra funding, Coun. Dave Kusch said this is always a great event that draws out a lot of people.
“It’s a great thing for the community,” he said, adding that he hopes someone takes it over when Dionne reaches the point when she can’t do it anymore.
Coun. Bruce Prestidge asked Anderson if Dionne did any fundraising beyond asking the county for a donation.
Anderson replied that the county was the sole sponsor in terms of paying for the sleigh ride, though she does get items donated from other sources.
Reeve John Burrows said that when you consider Dionne collected 1,750 pounds of food last year, that works out to just under $1 per pound of food, which is “a pretty good value.”
