By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The annual Osoyoos Lite-Up 2022 returned with a bang last weekend (Dec 2-3) with Osoyoos residents undeterred by the bone chilling temperatures in the minus teens.
The two-day event was bigger than ever with new add ons creating a bigger buzz.
The Kiwanis “Toys for Tots to Teens” breakfast at Smitty’s Family Restaurant kicked off the festivities with the long-running toy drive filling the lobby area of the restaurant to overflowing.
The event sees toys or cash donations rewarded with a free breakfast at the popular family restaurant which saw it jam-packed all morning long.
Wilford Herle, who operates the restaurant along with wife Wendy and daughter Tammy, said 250 breakfasts were given away.
“It’s great, the community sure came out and supported this,” Herle said. “Even people travelling through, they wanted to pay for breakfast and we said no, just donate if you like.”
The Herles have been doing the toy drive since 1994 – that’s 28 years – from the time they operated the restaurant at the Husky station at the intersection of Hwy. 97 and Hwy. 3.
“We started at the truck stop with just coffee and cinnamon buns and it just kept growing so we started doing breakfast,” he said. In 2005 the Herles opened the Smitty’s franchise where it’s currently located.
Toys for Tots to Teens at Smitty’s.
Tammy Herle photo
Later in the day the Osoyoos Artisan Christmas Market opened with food and drinks ahead of the annual Christmas Parade down Main St. The Okanagan International Choir performed its annual carolling outside of Home Hardware, with a contingent of nearly 18 people, significantly smaller than the pre-pandemic 50 singers.
Mayor Sue McKortoff was thrilled with how the festival was unfolding, noting that the parade, which many observed as bigger than normal, had only three entries up until a week ago.
“One called today at 20 to six [50 minutes before the parade was to begin] asking if they could get into it,” she laughs. They were of course accommodated.
“It’s always a real community event,” she added. And this year, for the first time in maybe 20 years the beach bonfire at Gyro Park returned.
“This is an amazing event! We used to do this 20 years ago but because of redoing the park along with fire regulations the bonfire was stopped,” she said.
This year McKortoff said she went to the fire chief who then issued a permit to the Festival Society and just like that – with a truckload of wood donated by Nathan Ondrous – the bonfire was back.
Live entertainment including Christmas carollers and hot chocolate and hot dogs by donation from The Rotary Club fortified the bonfire crowd against the chill off the lake.
Saturday morning featured the annual photos with Santa at the Campo Marina Restaurant which offered free breakfasts for kids under 5 and $5 for kids over 5.
The inaugural European-style Christmas Market organized last year by Meagan Young-Bibby joined the Christmas Lite-Up festival this year with artisans selling their wares on Saturday.
Organized by Wide Arts National Association (WANA) and Young-Bibby, the Osoyoos Artisan Christmas Market complemented the Kiwanis Christmas craft fair just down the road the Legion Hall.
Wina Poliquin, President and Founder of WANA said the market was a big success. “People packed in at the opening at 11 a.m. and was busy for an hour and a half and then it came in waves,” she said.
For both Poliiquin and Young-Bibby, part of their aim is to bring a more European flare to the festival, bringing it closer to the outdoor Christmas markets featured throughout Europe.
This included introducing Krampus, or horned animal-like creatures from European folklore who, during the Christmas season, scare children who have misbehaved.
Poliquin says they repurposed the folklore to one of protecting the community by scaring away evil.
The second annual three kilometre Jingle Bell Run also kicked off in the morning of Saturday, organized by runner Sarah Gilchrist who was behind the creation in 2020 of the Desert Valley Running Club (DVRC) and Sarah Dynneson, the program supervisor for the Town of Osoyoos.
