Kerrobert kicks off the holiday season with two great events

Come one, come all to the 2023 Kerrobert Courthouse Restoration Society's Festival of Trees and the annual Town Christmas Party. If you have never attended these two yearly events, you need to come and experience them!

For the Festival of Trees, there is no cost to attend. However, you can choose to donate towards your favourite tree if you like. All funds go back to the courthouse for restoration projects. Each year, the kick-off to the Festival of Trees happens on the first Thursday of December (December 7th, 2023) with our Festival of Trees event. Then, the trees can be viewed during regular town office working hours from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. throughout the Christmas season.

The historic Kerrobert Courthouse will once again be lit up for the Christmas season. The community is gearing up for two special events - the Festival of Trees and the Town Christmas Party. FILE PHOTO BY VERONICA SMITH

Each year, the Courthouse Restoration Society sets up trees, which have been donated, in the Courtroom Gallery. Our local Prairie Branches group helped KCRS bring all of the Christmas trees up from storage in the courthouse's basement and set them up, which is a huge contribution to the event. Once the trees are set up, they are decorated by groups and businesses donating $60 towards the fundraiser. Each tree has a bucket placed beside it that people can "vote" for with their donation dollars, and all donations are then put towards courthouse restoration projects. Any contributions over $20 can receive a tax receipt as well.

Thanks to members of the community, there is also a "Memory Tree" where people can write down the names of their loved ones who have passed on a paper ornament to hang on the tree and donate to the Kerrobert Cemetery. Another group has organized another special tree that is put up, which is the "Santa for Seniors" tree. Numbered tags with gift ideas from seniors in the community are hung on the tree. People can pick a tag off the tree and then give a gift or gifts to the senior that the tag belongs to. These gifts are dropped off at the town office, and then the organizers take the gifts to the seniors whose names correspond to the tag numbers. These two trees are a wonderful addition to the Festival of Trees event.

The Kerrobert & District Historical Society has been very busy preparing for the Festival of Trees by decorating the museum rooms for the Christmas season. They are also offering tours of the museum from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., or those interested can go on a self-guided "I Spy" pamphlet tour that will take you through the building, trying to find specific items throughout.

This year, in the Courtroom Gallery, cookies and refreshments will be offered, as well as the chance to visit and sing carols. The Courthouse Restoration Society will be handing out treat bags to the children throughout the day that have been generously donated by our local Bick's Drugs. Santa will be there from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., as there will be sleigh rides provided by Myradge and Tetzlaff Farms.

The courtyard will be lit up at 5:30 p.m. this year with lights that have been donated in the past by businesses, volunteer groups and members of the community.

The next evening, December 8th, KCRS will also be hosting the Town of Kerrobert Christmas Party, with all funds going towards courthouse restoration.

The Town Christmas party is a night of great food and live music, which is on Friday, December 8th, at the Prairieland Community Centre. You can come and enjoy a delicious meal catered by Kerrobert's Vintage Market, and later, at 9:00 p.m., there will be a dance with a party band from Edmonton called Slow Walkin' Walter!

Companies and private groups can plan on having this event for their Christmas party with all the organizing done for them and then just sit back and enjoy a relaxing evening! Tickets are $60 each, or if you buy a full table of 8, they are $55 each! You can also phone the Town Office at 306-834-2361 to reserve your tickets or tables. Doors open for cocktails at 6:00 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and entertainment at 9:00 p.m. Ticket sales end on November 29th. You can also come anytime after 9:00 p.m. for the dance for $30 if you want.

The Festival of Trees and the Town of Kerrobert Christmas Party is a two-day event that the KCRS hosts in an effort to kick off the holiday season, bring people together and raise much-needed funds for courthouse restoration projects. We hope you can make it to these events!