Christmas Spirit can still be found aplenty around Swift Current
While many traditional Christmas season events are not occurring as a result of increased COVID-19 cases across Saskatchewan, there remain a variety of ways to enjoy the Christmas season in Swift Current.
During the November 30 Swift Current City Council meeting, veteran Councillor Pat Friesen highlighted the Deck The House! Holiday Lights Contest which will be brightening Swift Current during the month of December.
The annual City of Swift Current Christmas lights competition, held in conjunction with Canadian Tire, allows residents and businesses to showcase their light displays and decorations.
“This Christmas is going to be probably like none other that any of us have ever experienced given the COVID situation. I know people are starting to worry about whether they can get together with family,” Friesen said during the meeting. “There’s still going to be some things happening that can help us all get into the Christmas spirit.”
The 2020 Deck The House! Holiday Lights Contest features over $1,500 in prizes in six judging categories. This year there are four new judging categories (Best Theme, Best Colour Coordinated, Best Musical-light Show, and Most Lights), along with the traditional categories of Best Commercial and Best Residential display, plus Best New Entry.
“The hope is that there is a number of houses, that people could make a whole evening, or maybe two or three evenings of driving around and looking at the lights,” Friesen said.
“I would encourage everyone to get out there and put some lights out and enter your home just so it’s on the list and so that there hopefully can be dozens and dozens of homes for us to drive by and view.”
Businesses and homeowners can enter by contacting Kelly Elliott at 306-778-2723 or via email at k.elliott@swiftcurrent. ca. Full prize details can be found on Page 9 of the December 3 edition of the
Southwest Booster.
Friesen also pointed out that a virtual CP Holiday Train concert will replace the traditional train tour stops which roll across Canada in November and December. While COVID-19 has prevented a series of in-person performances, the Holiday Train at Home concert at 7 p.m. on December 12 will provide an opportunity to continue the annual tradition. The concert will stream on Canadian Pacific’s Facebook page ( facebook.com/canadian. pacific) and will feature headliner Serena Ryder and The Trews, along with performances by Jojo Mason, Logan Staats and Kelly Prescott. An archived version of the show will be posted for later viewing.
The public is also invited to make a donation to their local food bank, with CP already committing to a donation of $1.24 million to a total of 201 food banks in communities that ordinarily host CP Holiday Train events.
“Just something to help us all maybe get into the Christmas spirit a little bit.”