Wawota's annual Winter Fest, which celebrated its second anniversary on Friday, Dec. 10, proved to be a hit with everyone as the town turned out in large numbers for the event.
Held primarily at the Wawota Town Hall and Legion Club Rooms, the large room as a mass of zooming, screaming children had a wonderful time at the event.
With Santa on hand in the Legion Club Rooms to have a listen to the Christmas lists for the kids, the line stayed long the entire period of his visit to the event.
The festive spirit, which was evident enough in the joyful yawps of the excited little ones, was boosted further by the large number of decorated Christmas trees that ringed the hall.
The Christmas trees, which were auctioned off as a fundraiser for the hall itself, were each decorated by a business or organization in the community.
The first tree to go for auction, decorated by Wawota Flowers and Things, proved to carry the highest price of the night as auctioneer Ken Wilson carried the bidding up to dizzying heights, with the gavel finally falling at the $1,000 mark.
The tree was purchased by Red Hawk Well Servicing Inc.
Bidding for the beautifully prepared trees remained strong throughout the auction, leading to a record-breaking total for the festival.
"We more than doubled last year's total," said event organizer Shannon Houff. "We brought in more than $3,500 from the auction, so we're really happy with the overall turnout."
"We also ended up giving out somewhere between 120 and 130 treat-bags for the kids who visited with Santa Claus," Houff went on to say. "We also served out more than 250 or so hot dogs."
The hot dog meal was provided to attendees at no cost.
The town of Wawota had pitched into the event in many ways, including creating artificial toboggan runs at the skate park located behind the town hall.
With sleds and sleighs of every possible combination of material, shape, and colour, many youth spent considerable time on the snowy mounds.
For those looking for a bit of a more sedate activity, hay wagon rides were provided at no charge throughout the festival.
Clysdales Jack and Rocky took their time in the cold winter wind to bring visitors on a round trip from the school to the hall and back again.
Rocky and Jack were provided and guided by Don Cameron.
The evening was also a wonderful time to be in town, as notable country music star Aaron Pritchett was on hand to perform at the Parkland School gymnasium.
With numerous music videos playing regularly on Country Music Television, and a host of country music awards behind him, Pritchett was a wonderful addition to the day's festivities.
Performing without his band, Pritchett quickly won the hearts of the crowd with his mellow voice and cheerful demeanour.
Even the youngest in the audience seemed entranced with the veteran musician, and Pritchett himself seemed to enjoy the attention of the young children, regularly speaking out to them from stage and inviting them to sing along with him.
"The show was an hour-and-45 minutes long," said Jaime Ford, a teacher at Parkland School and one of the organizers of the concert. "The whole thing was just great."
"He [Pritchett] stayed after his performance to sign autographs and speak with people," Ford said. "He made himself really approachable, and he was so honestly friendly too."
"I don't think there is any question that everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly," Ford said. "The little kids were involved with the performance too, and that was a nice thing to see."
"He [Pritchett] seemed to really enjoy his time with the kids and people too."
The concert, which began at 7 p.m. sold 307 tickets all together, with a profit of more than $1,700 to go to various school-related projects in the community.
"The whole thing just turned out to be wonderful," Houff said in the days following the festival. "I have to say that it's nice to see a community come together and work together on something that everyone seems to enjoy."
"When a community, or a group of communities in an area, come together like this for anything, little or big, I really believe that there isn't anything they can't do," Houff said. "It isn't the size of the community; it's the desire of the people in the community to see good things happen."
The money raised a this year's Wawota Winter Fest will be invested back into the community by supporting other upcoming events.
