It may seem a little early to get into the Christmas spirit, but a holiday film that’s being shot in downtown Summerland needs the quaint little town to look the part.

Image Credit: Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative

Downtown Summerland has been converted into a winter wonderland in late summer as a new Christmas holiday made-for-television movie is being filmed there.

A crew of about 110 crew members and support staff set up shop in Summerland last Friday and will remain in the South Okanagan community until the end of this week shooting a Christmas holiday movie, said producer’s assistant Michael Lyons.

Numerous trucks filled with movie making equipment were gathered around Main Street Tuesday afternoon as filming continued.

Crews were using fake snow and Christmas ornaments to turn sections of Main Street and the outside of the District of Summerland town hall on Henry Street into winter scenes for the movie.

The film’s producers haven’t selected a final name for the Christmas-themed movie, said Lyons..

The company he works for, which he didn’t want to publicize, has shot other Christmas-themed television movies in and around Summerland over the past few years, said Lyons.

For this particular film, the producers asked for and were granted permission from senior staff and council to use the Kettle Valley Railway site to shoot large portions of the movie, he said.

“We’re doing a lot of shooting at the Kettle Valley train station,” he said. “That was a very important place for this movie and script. We’ve done a lot of shooting up there. We also love the downtown views here for our Christmas market scenes.”

Having access to the Kettle Valley Railway station and the trains play a key role in the movie’s plot, he said.

“Basically, this film involves a couple and they have a daughter who is coming to visit them for the Christmas holidays,” he said. “Unfortunately, she gets stuck on a train that’s broken down. Her boyfriend is over at her house and the boyfriend basically gets the life story of his girlfriend flashed back to him while they’re awaiting for her to arrive.”

Lyons was part of a crew that shot another Christmas-themed movie last year in Peachland and being able to come back to work in the South Okanagan was exciting, said Lyons.

“This is my first time working in Summerland and it’s been great,” he said. “It’s a very pretty town and the people here have been super nice and accommodating to myself and our entire crew. It has been a really great experience.”

It takes a crew of more than 110 people to shoot this movie and they spent all of last week enjoying the Okanagan scenery and great summer weather, said Lyons.

Not every movie has to be a blockbuster or action thriller as the company he works for has done extremely well making a series of lighter films that can be viewed by all members of the family over the Christmas holiday season, he said.

“We make feel good stories, little light romantic comedies and when we’re all off over the holidays, they’re great to watch with members of your family,” he said.

The numbers don’t lie as these Christmas-themed movies traditionally draw very strong television audiences and that’s why more and more of them keep being made, he said.

“This movie will be appearing on television screens on their channel all across Canada,” he said. “They get very good response from the public and they’re a lot of fun to make, so I really enjoy the work.”

Many of the crew members are from Kelowna and the rest are from the Vancouver area, he said.

Town staff were also great to deal with as parts of the downtown had to be blocked off for a couple of hours to allow for certain filming, he said.

“It has been good vibes all around from the second we got here,” he said.

Summerland Chief Administrative Officer Graham Statt informed council about the movie during a presentation at Tuesday’s regular meeting of council.

“It’s been a fun week with film crews being up and about the community making this new Christmas movie,” he said. “It’s a great reminder of how special a place we live in to be profiled in a storybook-style that the world will get a small snapshot into this Christmas season.”

All scenes for the movie were pre-approved by district staff and permit fees and costs to the town have already been reimbursed by the movie’s producers, he said.

“There are, of course, economic spinoff benefits as well, with crew members and support workers staying in and around the community and small businesses being paid for some of the food and other services required from this kind of production,” he said.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald.

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