ARCOLA - There was no better way to kick off the holiday season than by attending Arcola’s Main Street Christmas celebrations on Dec. 11.
The events throughout the day created the perfect holiday scene in the town.
Organizer Sarah Rickard explains that the idea behind this event stemmed from watching the Hallmark Christmas movies with her mom.
Some of the films feature fictional and/or real-life towns that are charming and make for the perfect destination to ring in the holidays for true Hallmark lovers.
“When my mom was real sick we used to watch all the Hallmark Christmas movies together,” explains Rickard, who lost her mom to cancer in 2017.
Rickard then put a post on Facebook that she wished someone would turn their town into a Christmas village like the ones in the movies.
“A bunch of people liked the idea so I ended up putting it in motion,” says Rickard who organized the event in 2019 for the first time.
COVID put a halt to having the celebration in 2020.
So it was once again time to start organizing for the 2021 event.
Mother Nature co-operated with the temperature being a moderate -4 C with a slight breeze.
They day started with a trade show with a variety of booths to see and Christmas crafts to purchase.
Hockey fans took in the games at the rink throughout the day.
The kids and adults made their way to Main Street to see Santa Claus in the Royal Canadian Legion Hall. Many took this opportunity to put in their Christmas order with Santa while having a photo taken to treasure forever.
Once they finished putting in their order with the big guy in red, they took in the free movie matinee The Grinch.
Kids made constant use of the toboggan hill, carrying their sleds up the hill again and again … and again.
Quite a crowd gathered around to warm up at the fire pits while roasting hotdogs and marshmallows or just having a cup of hot chocolate.
Skaters enjoyed the outdoor rink, surrounded by bales, made specifically for this event. The rink will continue to be maintained throughout the winter.
Horse and wagon rides were available throughout the entire day, to the delight of everyone.
Christmas carolers gathered on a trailer and sang festive tunes all around the town.
Richard was very pleased on how well attended the event was.
“The whole community came out to attend the event, which was nice, and then we had some people from other communities as well.”
“Some came for the trade show and then made their way downtown as well.”
“The whole idea was to have a community fun day and all for free.”
“For the most part, everything was supplied through donations from businesses and all work was done by volunteers.”
“We had to work around a lot of COVID rules this year.”
“It was a lot of planning for sure.”
The events throughout the day stirred up emotions and brought back many pleasant memories for Rickard.
“Seeing all the kids on the skating rink and the toboggan hill,” says Rickard is what brought those memories back of her mom. “It was packed.”
The temperature was just right, which kept skaters out on the ice right up until 10:30 p.m. that Saturday night and again all day Sunday.
“It was great to see. I hope people make use of it all winter.”
“Our goal was to have the community out together and provide a fun and free family-oriented night,” explains Rickard.
Rounding out the busy day was the lighting of the Christmas tree on Main Street in Arcola.
