It’s a Chamber Christmas

 

Downtown was a happening place on November 26 as the Whitecourt and District Chamber of Commerce held its annual Christmas is for Kids event.  The free event, sponsored in part by the Chamber, Atco Gas, Ralcomm, the Boys & Girls Club, and Beaver Creek General Store provided a free movie at Vista Theatre and sleigh rides, face painting, and barbecue and refreshments at the Legion.

Atco Gas barbecued up hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone who came by, and supervisor for Yellowhead West, Mike Zimmerman, said they were very busy, “Today we served about 800 hamburgers and hot dogs. We got slammed (laughing). We had an assembly line going, feeding everyone. It was great!” Mike said getting to be part of the event was fantastic and that they really enjoyed their time with residents, “It’s good to get out and meet the customers we are serving. We hope to do this event for years to come.”

Cactus Patch Ranch had two wagons towed by two horses each and they didn’t stop once they started. “It’s been an awesome day! It’s always fun doing this with the kids and we look forward to this event each year,” said Kim Andrusiak who, along with her husband Wally, run the ranch. “Seeing the kids approach the horses and their faces light up is the best part,” said Kim.

Ashlee Young, one of many parents who brought her children down for the festivities said she was shocked by the fact that everything was free. “I went to grab a hot dog and they said it was free. How cool is that? Who doesn’t want to hear the word “free”? It’s such a fantastic event and we had a really great time.”

Chamber President Rand Richards said this year was fantastic, “We had over 1,200 people come through today which is great. Santa was here for a couple of hours, the sleigh rides were a hit as usual, and we had a gingerbread-decorating contest, too.” The event has been happening for over six years and is in conjunction with the Santa Claus Parade which Rand says was one of the biggest ones yet. “We had over 40 floats registered and around 2,000 people downtown to enjoy it.”

The Chamber focuses on how to bring vitality to the downtown area, “We believe events like this bring people downtown to visit the businesses that we have,” explained Rand, “and it was definitely another great year!”