OXBOW — The Town of Oxbow hosted a community-wide Christmas event on Dec. 1.
Main Street was decorated, and Oxbow turned into a Christmas town with many different festive stations. The day featured a community chili supper, a live nativity scene, carols and entertainment, tree lighting by Councillors Rod Rabanal and Ron Rossow, fire trucks and department tours, street hockey with the senior Huskies, pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, turkey bingo at the Oxbow branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, cookie decorating and hot chocolate, Christmas cut-outs, advent book bundles, a letters to Santa station and more.
People could also get a good start on their Christmas shopping locally with a farmers’ market, while businesses stayed open late and offered specials and draws.
Oxbow community development officer Treena Mohrbutter said a lot of people partook in different events and activities that day. About 120 people enjoyed the supper, over 100 children stopped by to decorate cookies, and about the same number of kids came to visit and take pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and to write letters to the North Pole. About 70-80 kids used the opportunity and were really excited to play hockey with the senior team.
Mohrbutter noted that the event helped spread the holiday spirit and brought the community together.
"It was really community-based, it was about giving back," Mohrbutter said. "It was truly amazing to see all the community organizations that came out and all the businesses that hosted something. They planned that on their own really and then just sent it to me … They thought of what they wanted to do, and then did something. It all was separate all over downtown, all over Main Street."
Thanks to this strong community effort, Mohrbutter received a lot of positive feedback, and some people said they didn't have enough time because there was so much to do during Christmas in Oxbow.
"I was blown away by the community engagement of all the groups and the businesses. It was a pleasant surprise to see that everyone wanted to be involved in it," Mohrbutter said.
While most things were free, there were a couple of opportunities for people to give back. Donations collected during the community supper were destined for the Oxbow Prairie Horizon School’s industrial arts shop to buy new power tools. And proceeds from turkey bingo at the legion were directed to the local food bank.
Mohrbutter added that events were really intertwined, as different businesses and organizations worked together to bring something for the people and also to benefit each other.
"I just wanted to make a point of how intertwined it was within the community, like, proceeds from supper were donated to the school. And photo cut-outs that were around town were sponsored by Timbermart, they donated all supplies, and it was actually the homeschooling group students who made them. It was just neat to see the collaboration amongst all the groups," Mohrbutter said.
Christmas in Oxbow was an annual tradition for years in the last week of November. COVID put things on pause until now, when the event was brought back but a bit later than in the past.
The list of all the sponsors and organizations that made Christmas in Oxbow possible can be found on the Town of Oxbow Facebook page.
