ATHABASCA - Moonlight Madness will go on this year, but there will be a few changes.
The always-popular pre-Christmas event usually takes place in late November, offering a parade, fireworks and huge deals in local stores and while the parade has been called off, the fireworks will still light up the sky as merchants offer the best of their wares.
Set to run over two days this year starting Friday, Nov. 20, the tagline is “Shop Late Until 8” with stores open until at least 8 p.m. on Friday followed by fireworks, said Athabasca District Chamber of Commerce president Tova Schwede.
“The town called a special meeting (Nov. 9) and the decision was made not to have (a parade),” Schwede said. “They’re not comfortable bringing people into such potentially close (quarters).”
Mayor Colleen Powell said the town was following Alberta Health Services (AHS) guidelines when deciding not to go ahead with the parade. The guidelines stipulate that no more than 100 people should gather in one location; cohorts should be maintained; a distance of two metres should be observed between cohorts; masks are encouraged and hand sanitizer should be made available.
“What was interesting was it took a while to find AHS rules on parades — five pages of recommendations and the only rule was no more than 100 people,” said Powell, noting it would take too many people to ensure the rules were being followed.
The good news is there will still be fireworks and sales taking place in participating stores.
“Our biggest goal with this is really to encourage local shopping and really encourage people to look at what is available locally before you go online, before you go outside of the community,” Schwede said. “And I think it's more important now than ever, because we want to keep our community safe.”
Schwede said the community asks so much of local businesses with donations to various sports teams, non-profits and more that it is time to show the love back.
“It's all about shopping local, it's all about supporting those who really, in many ways have supported us over the years whether it's been for cheerleading or donations to baseball,” said Schwede. “The community calls upon the businesses many times over the years and let's show them the love and keep things local and keep people healthy.”
The town will still be doing Light Up the Night with the annual tree light-up at Riverfront Park and there will be fireworks at 8:15 p.m. on Friday night. Schwede added store owners are encouraged to decorate the windows.
"I have seen some amazing things over the years that shops have done to their front windows with their lights,” she said. “Everything from blow up Santas to elegant to cute.”
And as there will be no opportunity to have photos with Santa, as he must follow AHS guidelines too, Home Hardware is setting up an outdoor display so people can take their own photos.
“We're obviously not going to have close contact pictures with Santa,” Schwede said. "But Carol (Alberts) is like an elf … she loves Christmas. She loves just going the extra mile. She's going to set up an outdoor display so that families can gather; there's going to be a sleigh and things along those lines where people can gather in front of this really elegant outdoor display and take their own pictures.”
The chamber is also hoping the public will help support the fireworks and the goodie bags Home Hardware will be handing out with donations.
“The fireworks every year we do a campaign with local businesses ... but we also know that businesses are in a difficult spot,” Schwede said. “And we all know that the community loves fireworks so, we're basically saying if you can e-transfer us to help us with the fireworks because as you might be aware, or not, fireworks are not cheap.”
People can e-transfer a donation to [email protected] and be sure to include in the message line if the money is for fireworks or candy, Schwede said.
