A beloved annual Christmas tradition is returning to the Village of Beiseker.
Local businesses and organizations will be more involved than ever at Beiseker’s long standing Christmas in the Village festival this year, which takes place on Dec. 2.
While the community event has always received full support from local businesses, this year the Village made a strong effort to put out a special call to businesses, organizations, and community groups to register the activities they will be hosting to be included in the festival, said Brook Swanson, FCSS director and community and people coordinator for the Village of Beiseker and Town of Irricana.
Swanson said registrations were still pouring in on Nov. 15 when she spoke to Rocky View Weekly, but they already had a great assortment of events happening around the community.
“We have bonfires with hot dog roasts and bonfires with marshmallow roasts,” Swanson said. “We have choirs doing caroling, we have tons of kids activities and crafts.”
The Village will put out a full itinerary of each event with a map on the Village website, social media, as well as flyers on Nov. 27.
“It's so special because it taps into tradition,” Swanson said. “It taps into Beiseker as a small community, but as a community that stands together.”
She added that the festival thrives on collaboration, and is all about working together to support community engagement and togetherness.
“If the community as a whole can provide an opportunity for others to take a couple hours out of their day to just be happy and enjoy themselves with their families, that's what we want,” Swanson added. “That's the outcome.”
She noted the festival has been a staple tradition for the community. This year one local resident, Les Spurgeon, will host the Christmas Market to kick off the festival from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
While the Christmas Market has been an ongoing community event since the early 2000s, Spurgeon first became involved by helping his wife organize the market for several years until she passed away in 2020.
The following year, Spurgeon took over to keep the market running with the help of a great group of volunteers and vendors.
“I've kept it going, you know, for her and for everybody,” Spurgeon said.
The market will feature about 50 tables featuring non-profits, small businesses, and craft Christmas items.
“[The market] helps the community to get everybody together and get them some different items that they might use either for Christmas gifts or whatever,” Spurgeon said, noting it’s also a way for people to give back to the community while stocking up on items they may need over the holidays.
While the market is ongoing, kids events will run throughout the day from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at various businesses including the Beiseker Fire Hall where an open house will be held, according to Swanson.
The festival will wrap up with a parade, another long standing tradition for the Village, which takes place at 5 p.m.
Following the parade, a fireworks display will close out the evening.
Swanson said the festival attracted about 300 visitors last year, even though it was a cold winter day.
“We did have some outdoor events last year that were planned where we had to kind of try to find indoor spaces to warm people up,” Swanson said. “So I'm thinking because it was so cold, there was still a good turnout.”
Beiseker staff asked on Facebook to have businesses, community groups and organizations plan, organize and facilitate festive activities.
The post stated, “If your Organization, Community Group or Business would like to get involved or already has a planned activity for this day, please let us know and we will add you to the Itinerary of Events.”
Suggestions for activities were identified in the Facebook post and those who would like to participate can contact Cathryn Hagel or Brook Swanson at [email protected] or [email protected].
