There are only a few more weeks to go before the magic of the Christmas season is kicked off in Strathmore at the Celebration of Lights.

Dave Fraser, chair of the Celebration of Lights committee explains that things are going well for the preparation of the lights display.

“As you can imagine, it's in full swing with a little less than five weeks to go, so we have a lot of things going on at once,” he said.

“We are constructing some new projects this year. I think there might be one or two surprises.”

The Christmas lights display will kick off on November 27 and run until January 8.

Fraser says, “Opening night is November the 27th, and I believe we'll be opening around 4:30 that day. It is quite a busy night and we're hoping to have a few dignitaries there to do a few speeches.”

The regular hours will be from 6 to 9 p.m. each day.

In terms of new protocols because of COVID-19 this year, Fraser said, “Well, of course, last year we were fairly restricted. We couldn't have any places where there would be gatherings. People certainly could walk through, take a look at all the exhibits and then they would go.”

“This year I think we might be able to relax some of the restrictions we had last year unless the government decides to change it. But we're planning for what we call a normal year where we're going to have like a couple of burning barrels setup there where people can warm up.”

He said, “We are opening Santa's Cottage this year, which we couldn't do last year, and it's going to be completely different inside there as well.”

There will be a few new surprises this year as there are quite a few renovations taking place behind the scenes right now.

“We're hoping for a good year and we are excited about getting it open and having people come in,” said Fraser.

 

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