LOCAL KINSMEN are banding together to stage an impromptu Christmas parade.
Latest word is that the parade is now scheduled for Friday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 pm.
What follows is a text of an email originally sent by Kinsmen member Corey Bonnar.
He can be reached at coreybonnar13@gmail.com
As most of you are well aware Christmas is almost here and before you know it we will be welcoming in the New Year! The holiday always brings me back to the most important things in my life, my family and great food!
I also always cherish the Christmas spirit that gets in the air, not the overplayed songs and long line ups in shopping malls but the warmth of old friends and the generosity and happiness that brings people together and gives us all a reason to enjoy each others company and inspires us to do little acts of kindness for one another, even strangers.
There is simply an intangible something about Christmas that never gets old and in fact becomes more and more precious to me every year. It is important to keep this feeling alive because not only does it remind me of all I am thankful for but it makes the world and community around me a better place. This is why on behalf of the Terrace Kinsmen I am writing this email.
We are needing YOUR help my friends! In the coming days leading up to Christmas I know each and every one of you will have too much to do and not enough time and although it would be tough to think you could commit to anything else I am going to challenge each of you to do something small to help.
Recently it was announced that this year due to a lack of volunteers, bad weather and people in general being disconnected from the community that the annual Christmas parade and festival which is a great little community event has been cancelled. How is Terrace lacking volunteers???
With this news we could hear a collective cheer from all of the grinches and scrooges! It almost sounded like Christmas had been cancelled here in Terrace. So after learning about this decision last night it was brought up at our Kinsmen meeting where we agreed we would do what we could to change this.
For sure we can wait til next year but a few of us also wanted to see if we could somehow make an effort to do something for Christmas this year.
We know there are all kinds of reasons why we can't but we are holding out hope that WE CAN do something small in the name of the community to try and keep the spirit alive! It might not be pretty and it might cost us a few bucks but I for one am willing to give my time and energy to come up with some kind of plan to bring the people in this community together to enjoy a bit of the holiday magic that we so desperately need.
Lets face it, it has been a crummy year in Terrace! Don't get me wrong, we have all the economic opportunity in the world to look forward to and focus on and a great place to live but the weather has really taken a lot of energy out of the place and made it a lot easier to cancel events or at least give people a reason not to come out.
We have to show our resilience and strength and overcome these things. Its what will keep the community strong.
The Kinsmen are proposing a makeshift parade next Saturday - we have three trailers and some hay, a Santa Claus, and a few guys willing to help.
What we need are a few more vehicles/trailers and a few more people to pull this off and help us bring people out so they can take some of that spirit back home with them and remember why this is a great place to live.
So with this email I am challenging you personally to do something to help us - Give us your ideas! Keep your criticisms! Say you agree! Volunteer some time!
Offer something to contribute! Spread the word! See who you can ask! Show up next Saturday! I emailed you for a reason!
We can make this happen! Our community needs our help!
Corey Bonnar, coreybonnar13@gmail.com