Light Up the Night, Lacombe’s premiere winter festival, has expanded to five days and is welcoming some new events.
This year, the community festival spans from Thursday to Sunday and includes Holly Jolly Geocaching, the Jingle Bell Run and a Christmas brunch.
“Our goal is to have some events that last beyond the festival itself,” said Community and Economic Development Manager Guy Lapointe.
It is with this intent that events like the Holly Jolly Geocache, the lights and display contest or the ice slide will continue on past the festival, well into the holiday season.
Holly Jolly Geocache will be launched during the festival although it will run all throughout December. For those who are not familiar with the activity, geocaching is a treasure hunting game where participants use GPS coordinates to find hidden treasures.
Holly Jolly Geocache is a family-friendly activity aimed at those who are new to the skill. All of the ‘treasures’ can be found within the City and some may require the finders to do an activity or take a picture, along with signing the log. To participate in the holiday themed activity, visit the Lacombe Tourism web site to download the geocaching app.
As part of the festival, the City has also planned to create, dependant on the weather, a dual ice-slide. Lapointe said the slide will be constructed sometime soon by City crews, but it might not be quite ready for the festival. An ice slide was constructed last year in January by the City at the LMC park, which was intended to be a part of last year’s Light Up the Night festivities, but the weather did not allow for the construction at the time.
New this year and in partnership with the Bill Nielsen Trail Society is the Jingle Bell Run on Nov. 28th from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Cranna Lake.
For a small donation to the society, attendees will get some type of festive headgear and then can run around the lake once or twice at their leisure. The winter activity is designed to get people active and outdoors for a fun run or walk.
“This festival has grown to five days from four last year and is better than ever, and I want to thank all the festival sponsors and volunteers for their amazing community spirit,” said City of Lacombe Mayor Steve Christie. “I am also looking forward to participating in another Guinness World Record attempt, this time for the world’s largest human snowman. I encourage everyone to come down to help put Lacombe on the map again.”
The largest human snowman attempt will take place on Nov. 28th at 6 p.m. at ME Global Athletic Park.
Also new to the festival is the Christmas Brunch, hosted at Best Western Lacombe Inn and Suites on Nov. 29th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Sunday is the day that officially makes the festival five days,” said Lapointe. “The Christmas Bunch is an opportunity to sit down with Santa and also check out two new businesses in Lacombe.”
Cilantro and Chive will be catering the meal. Tickets are $5 a person or $10 for a family of four (two adults, two children).
Visit http://www.lacombetourism.com/lacombe-regional-tourism-events/light-night for a detailed listing of all events or look in the Festival Guide published in the Nov. 19th edition of the Lacombe Express.
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