Light-up drew the Oak Lake community together on a very chilly evening of Nov. 24. Rachelle Stannage, the RM of Sifton recreation director said, “We had double the number of people we had last year. There was around 40. We ran out of hot dogs and hot chocolate.”
That was a far cry from last year’s effort where, post Covid, only a handful turned out.
The tree was originally on the main business street, North Railway Street, but as the other trees along Railway grew, the Memory Tree lost its place of distinction. It was time to find a new tree for the honour, and so a spruce in the St. Albans Church yard was selected.
Stannage described the scene with music playing in St. Alban’s Garden Park. “This year we got donations so we lit up the whole park. We turned it into a Winter Wonder Land.”
She felt their efforts were rewarded as people expressed enjoyment seeing the Oak Lake community’s light-up evening being revived.
The weekend included the Sunday Santa Brunch and a Santa Claus Parade. Hay rides were provided by Emily and Ken Jasper from Hartney. Their team of paints are a popular way to tour the town.
Sandra Harris writing in the Nov. 30 edition of the Oak Lake News, provides a colour commentary of the Santa Brunch:
“I’d like to say that the 28th Annual Santa Brunch went off without a hitch, but that would be a stretch. After hearing of Manitoba Hydro’s scheduled power outage for pretty much the exact hours of the event, the Brunch committee scrambled for a plan that did not include postponing. They managed through contacts, to have the hours of the outage shifted to the afternoon, and moved the hours of the event a little earlier than usual.
“The Brunch was once more a huge success!
“Once again, we were blessed with many donations and had a wonderful variety of gifts from which the kids could choose.”
