WESTLOCK – Following two years of muted celebrations due to COVID-19 protocols, Westlock Christmas Light Up returns Nov. 18-19 with not only a full schedule of family-friendly events but overwhelming buy-in from the business community.
Light Up 2022 kicks off with a parade down 107th Street starting at 5 p.m. Friday night and will be followed by festivities in the core including live music and pop-up stores, plus late-night shopping at other locales around town. Saturday promises a full day of activities spread across the community — from a live nativity scene at the Westlock Gospel Chapel, to crafts and activities for families at the library and the Little Elves Workshop at the Rotary Spirit Centre. And for kids looking to meet Santa, he’s scheduled to be at Kerri’s Café downtown from 3 to 6 p.m. during a cookie decorating event — see the schedule in the photo gallery or here and the associated Light Up ads in this week’s print edition for all the events, times and locations.
So, it’s not just hype when organizers say that this year’s event is shaping up to one of the best in recent memory as their goal was to “rally the town.”
Light Up 2022 is being coordinated by the town’s community events committee, the same group that led the planning for Canada Day, the inaugural Music in the Park concerts and the recent Halloween Haunted House at the RSC, events which committee member Tina Wold calls “absolutely wonderful.”
The committee, which includes residents, town councillors and administration, plus reps from organizations like Family and Community Support Services, came about in the fall of 2021 with CAO Simone Wiley saying then “ … we struggle as a community to get people involved and a lot of times you need a champion — a lead organization to bring things together. I think (this committee) will promote community and there’s more as a community we can do and that’s the impetus for this committee.”
For Wold, a previous downtown business owner who organized Light Up on her own for five years, said support this year from groups and especially business owners, has been “absolutely fantastic.” Light Up is in its original form was always meant to be a celebration for not only families, but a chance for businesses to stay open late for pre-Christmas sales.
“We thought very hard as a committee as we wanted to do something not only for the people of the town but the main reason we focused so hard on Friday night, was because we wanted to focus on the businesses. Let’s be real, many are having a really tough time right now. So, we asked ourselves, ‘Can we do more in this town?’ And the answer is yes,” said Wold.
“We’ve got over 30 businesses that are committed to doing specials that night alone and they’re excited to be involved and were just excited to be asked to be involved. When we went out and talked to the businesses, we used the phrase ‘community spirit.’ In all of those meetings, their eyes lit up and they basically said they’re didn’t care what we did, they were in.”
With a full slate of activities on tap that have been organized by a bevy of groups ranging from the Cadets to Youth Unlimited, plus the commitment from a boatload of businesses, Wold said they’ve got their fingers crossed that this will pave the way for bigger Light Up celebrations in the years ahead.
“For this year we’re not asking for a lot, just to stay open and do a little special and let’s see what happens and then next year, maybe add a few more hours to the shopping and a few more things for people to do,” she said. “Every group is doing what they want to do, and it’s been wonderful. We’re all looking forward to it.”
