The Airdrie Festival of Lights (AFOLS) is excited to announce the FortisAlberta Light Up the Night celebration. The celebration is slated for opening night, Friday, December 1, at Nose Creek Regional Park at 5:30 pm.

“It’s that magical moment you see in all the Christmas movies,” says AFOLS Coordinator Michelle Pirzek. “So we thought, why can’t we create that magical moment too?”

The idea came to life when FortisAlberta joined the project and the AFOLS planning committee chose a significant tree in the park to serve as the official light-up location. It will incorporate a huge "switch" that will illuminate the community tree lights before "magically" illuminating the rest of the park display by display. 

“We want to create a truly family-inclusive evening to give kids of all ages that magical “awe” moment while bringing our community together. We’re already planning a contest for our local elementary schools to find that person to Light Up the Night! Details will be released in early September." 

The Candy Cane Run, a long-standing Airdrie tradition that stopped in 1999, will get a new twist that evening thanks to the AFOL's collaboration with Airdrie Professional Firefighters. Everyone present will receive candy canes from the firefighters.

“If you lived in Airdrie prior to 2000, you would have memories of the fire trucks visiting every home in town and bringing candy canes to the doors. We wanted to bring the spirit of this back to the community,” Pirzek says.

Many Airdronians look forward to the Airdrie Festival of Lights every year. This year's Light Up the Night is their way of building on that tradition while paying tribute to an older event that they hope to continue hosting annually.

Even though it's still just June, Pirzek says that preparations for the 2023 Festival are well underway and that volunteers are still required all year long.

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