Father Christmas and the Grinch size each other up prior to the tree lighting ceremony at St. Andrews on the Square last year.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
November 25, 2014 - 4:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - Mother Nature has begun decorating for the holidays and this week the city will kick off holiday festivities with the Lights in the Night celebration and the Santa Claus Parade.
On Thursday Downtown Kamloops will host the annual Lights in the Night festival, an annual kickoff to the Christmas season. The event will get underway at 4 p.m. with a paper lantern-making workshop at Lansdowne Village and a kids party at St. Andrews on the Square.
The walk of lights (featuring the handmade lanterns) will start at 6 p.m. and will walk down Victoria Street before meeting up for the official lighting of the tree at St. Andrews on the Square at 7 p.m. Many downtown merchants will also be offering sales, contests and customer appreciation events.
On Saturday, the streets of downtown will once again be filled with Christmas cheer with the Santa Claus Parade. The theme this year is Once Upon a Time. The event will start with the waking of Santa at 10:30 and then the parade begins at 11 a.m. The parade will start at St. Paul Street and 2 Avenue and will head up 2 Avenue before heading east on Victoria Street up to 6 Avenue.
If you want to continue the festive fun after the parade, head to one of several artisan and craft sales also taking place Saturday. The Kamloops Arts and Crafts Club will host a sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Heritage House, the Hamlets at Westsyde will host a craft fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 3255 Overlander Drive and Pacific Way Elementary will also be hosting a craft fair from noon to 4 p.m.
Christmas at the Courthouse runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days while the SPCA craft fair will take place Sunday at the Coast Conference Centre on Rogers Way from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Also on Sunday the Chamber Musicians of Kamloops will present The Glory of Christmas at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral at 2 p.m.
Woodward’s Christmas Trees also opens for the season Saturday with weekend hay rides, concession and bonfires.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014