Downtown Black Diamond will come alive with a flurry of activity once the sun sets on Saturday.
The Town hosts its Light Up Black Diamond celebration featuring wagon rides, roaming carolers, bonfires, late-night shopping, a live nativity, scavenger hunt, markets and photos with Santa Claus among other activities along Main Street and Government Road from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Dec. 3.
Light Up will offer many of the same fun-filled events as in past years, said Quinn Page, the Town’s economic development manager.
“Everybody loves Light Up Black Diamond,” she said. “It’s a huge community event and it’s so nice to see everybody out and about, even in the winter season. It’s so family-oriented.”
Among the highlights of the evening are free photos with Santa at the four-way stop, a scavenger hunt in local businesses with the opportunity to win prizes and wagon rides throughout downtown.
Businesses will be open late offering goodies and specials, Page said.
“It encourages our local community to get familiar with our little boutique shops that they may not visit every day,” she said.
In the Griffiths Seniors Centre visitors can browse an artisan and craft market, enter a colouring contest and vote on gingerbread houses created by local businesses.
Free bus tours of Christmas lights and decorations in town will be held out of the Country Food Mart parking lot starting at 5 p.m. Residents are encouraged to turn on their lights and put up their displays that evening.
“The format has always gone over really well in the community just as it is,” Page said of Light Up.
“There are probably around 3,000 people who attend and it’s increasing.”
Town crier Barry Crane will walk the streets and hop off and on the wagon rides to direct people to the various activities to ensure they don’t miss out on any opportunities, said Page.
Kicking off the festivities on the morning of Dec. 3 is the High Country SPCA Christmas Market at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall in Turner Valley from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring 25 vendors with items ranging from crafts and baking to decorations and preserves, said Susi John, president of the High Country SPCA.
There will also be Plinko, prize draws, pictures for children and pets with a Christmas background and breakfast and lunch.
“It’s our fourth year and it’s our biggest fundraiser,” said John.
“It’s a social event. People sit down, have a coffee and try and catch up on each other’s lives.”
John said the SPCA’s bill is nearing $5,000 for 2016. Donations and the market fundraiser covers the costs of spaying and neutering strays as well as covering veterinary bills for pet owners unable to pay them. She hopes the event will raise another $3,000 this year.
One of the most anticipated events of the evening festivities is the Black Diamond Gospel Chapel’s live nativity, which takes place Dec. 2 and 3 at 7 p.m.
The play brings the true meaning of Christmas to life with a reenactment of Christ’s birth in the church parking lot, portraying the chilly night in Bethlehem 2,016 years ago when a pregnant Mary and her husband Joseph search for a place for Mary to have her child, only to be turned down and take refuge in a manger among cattle, sheep and donkeys.
Shirley Mundell, who directs the event, brings several of her animals from Kuddly Kountry Kritters mobile petting zoo to play the role of the animals while members of the church play Mary, Joseph, the angel Gabriel, profits, wise men, kings, storekeepers and the innkeeper.
Spectators can wander the marketplace, pet the animals and enjoy samples of lentil lamb soup by the fire.
“It’s our gift to the community to have the real Christmas story in the midst of the hustle and bustle of everything else,” said Mundell. “This is the real reason we have Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. If we can bring that to mind a little bit that’s our goal to reach out to the community.
“We hope everybody comes out and enjoys themselves and we wish them all a Merry Christmas,” she said.
For more information go to town.blackdiamond.ab.ca
