Festival of Trees virtual & Santa Claus parade uncertain in Bonnyville

Bonnyville’s Festival of Trees will be virtual this year, another holiday event changed due to the pandemic.

Four decorated Christmas trees will be set up at the town office and the wine tree up for auction at givergy.com.

The Town has not made a final decision on holding the Santa Claus parade in a few weeks time. Cold Lake announced they were going to extend their parade route to allow for social distancing.

“It’s not canceled for now. But we have to deal with how do you do a parade and not have the clusters of of individuals and people,” said Mayor Gene Sobolewski on The Morning After.

“That is the issue that we have to wrestle with. Because if we hold that event, you hold that parade and people are clustered together, somebody in the province is going to be saying, ‘Hey guys, you’re not supposed to be doing that’ or we have to follow certain protocols. So we’re going to leave it up to the experts to provide us with the guidance on that.”

Proceeds from the festival go towards the Bonnyville Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic, which raised about $8000 last year.

The Canada Day committee donated $10,000 from this year’s event to the Festival of Trees.