Residents around Indus can kick off the holiday season at the Indus Community Christmas – a collaboration between the Bow Valley Agricultural Society, Indus Rec Board and Synergy. The event will take place at the Indus Recreation Centre Dec. 9, with activities getting underway at 5:45 p.m.
“This event has been hosted in Indus for a number of years and features great family activities like skating, sleigh rides and visits from Santa,” said Alicea Sproule, youth and community development facilitator with Synergy. “We’ve partnered with them to host community dinners and things in the past, but this will be our first time working with them on a Christmas event.”
According to Sproule, Synergy was looking to host its own special Christmas event but decided to team up with the other organizations to pool their resources and create a bigger, better event for the entire area to enjoy. In addition to the traditional activities the event has provided for years, Synergy will be bringing an ice cream social and mechanical bull, which Sproule said was especially fitting for the agricultural community.
“We are always looking for more opportunities to get out and cooperate with other groups, especially in Indus,” Sproule said. “We are currently in the process of moving to a new operating space in Chestermere, but Synergy offers programs that are accessible to the entire area – and we don’t always get out to Indus as often as we’d like to.”
Synergy’s previous contributions to the community have been under the umbrella of Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), which Sproule said means there are still many people in the area who aren’t familiar with the non-profit organization.
“We do youth leadership programs and community development initiatives, offering another way for kids to be supported outside of school or their homes with adults who care about their futures and their nows,” Sproule said.
“We’re really hoping to see a good turnout for our first Christmas event, since our added elements this year might pull in a bit of a different crowd.”
Sproule said the Community Christmas has traditionally been well-attended, bringing in many of the same families year after year. She anticipates more people this year for the expanded event and hopes to see more residents from the surrounding area making the trip to Indus to enjoy the activities.
“Everyone has their own traditions and different ways of celebrating the holidays, and maybe Christmas isn’t necessarily what they celebrate, but having a community function like this that brings everyone together is really special,” Sproule said.
“It never hurts to get out of your comfort zone and meet new people, especially this time of year.”
