Kindersley residents took some time to 'celebrate the season' yesterday. Taking place at St. Pauls United Church, the annual Christmas Carol Festival saw many different local musicians and a decent crowd on hand to bring in the holiday spirit.

West Central Online got into contact with one of the organizers in Glenda Giles, and she explained how things went.

"It went really well. We had a good variety of program. It was vocal choirs, the cello, we had a good variety of entertainment, it was nice."

Giles was quick to point out that there was no invite needed to get on the stage, as anybody who wanted to participate was able to get on the program with just a phone call. The show had some nice local flair as she shared more on the performances.

"It's all local groups. We had the cello player come from Kerrobert," said Giles, "They were all local. Not invitational, all volunteers."

It's always good to get people together with shared talents, and Giles sees the event as a good send-off for Christmas.

"It's kind of the first Christmas event in the area that happens. It sets things off to a good start."

One interesting aspect of this year's show is that it was held in-person again, after they tried their hand at a virtual version last year. COVID forced their hand like so many others.

"The first year COVID shut everything down of course they didn't do anything," said Giles. Sunday's organizers even had a quick minute to chuckle about the fact that things were even taken online last year. It must have been great to see all of the hard work brought back into an in-person show again in 2022.

Giles shared that the Caroling event itself is very important because it raises funds for the Kindersley and District Music Festival Association. 

"It is a fundraiser for them, for their music festival that is in March," said Giles who organized this year's holiday event. Another name mentioned was Clayton Braybrook, who was just one music teacher with students in performance, "He had a good representation. Helen Barclay had her students there. You know it was good, we enjoyed ourselves."

Everyone participating had a blast, and the crowd was strong, though Giles did say it was down from prior years.

"We didn't get a huge crowd like we were hoping, but you know like we say it's a kickoff and the first one so hopefully in the future it will pick up again," said Giles, still eager to talk about the great crowd that did come, "It wasn't like we didn't have any people there; it was good. We hope to get a bigger crowd, but it was respectable, and it was a good show that everyone enjoyed. We got some good comments."

Listen out for more Christmas carols, as we sit twenty sleeps away from the big day.