Image Credit: YOUTUBE/Francois Arseneault/Reel Life
December 24, 2021 - 4:30 PM
While the pandemic may have put a pause on a regular Vernon tradition, old footage of the Vernon Rotary Carol Festival gives a nostalgic glimpse of the seasonal concert from years past.
Vernon historian and videographer Francois Arseneault uploaded the footage shot in 1962, which shows a seniors Christmas party hosted by the Vernon Rotary Club and Vernon Rotary Carol Festival.
Vernon Rotary members Jack Peters and Russell Shortt have been members of the club for 47 and 53 years respectively, but even their long tenure doesn't go back long enough to remember the carol festival's inaugural year.
Peters said the Vernon Rotary Carol Festival generally took place the first weekend in December and involved a dozen church and school choirs performing carols.
It launched in 1952 and up until the pandemic has continued each year and has been performed at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre since 2000.
"It's changed but in essence, it hasn't changed a lot," Peters told iNFOnews.ca. "All the money would go towards our projects, but mainly it would be for putting on a big seniors banquet in the spring."
The banquet, known as the seniors' breakout, would feed anywhere from 400 to 500 seniors Peters said.
"After a heavy winter, so to speak, we would bring out a lot of the shut-in seniors to a dinner," he said.
"It's a nice community project that we can do, that becomes enjoyable because of our involvement with people, and students and singers and the people that help us put in on."
While the pandemic has meant the carol festival has had to be cancelled the past two years, Peters is optimistic that it will start up again once the COVID situation has changed.
"God willing," he adds.
Video Credit: Francois Arseneault/Reel Life
1962 Senior citizens Christmas party hosted by the Rotary Club of Vernon, Vernon, BC
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