LAC LA BICHE - Crowds lined both sides of 101 Ave. (Main Street) in Lac La Biche to take in the community’s annual Light Up The Night Santa parade, which took place on Friday night.
Lac La Biche County firefighters and peace officers and local RCMP led the procession, the bright lights of their vehicles and the floats which followed bringing light to the dark though unseasonably warm winter’s night.
Many of the entries in the 2024 Light Up the Night Santa parade represented Lac La Biche area businesses, community groups and organizations such as 4-H. Living up to its namesake, the parade featured a visit by Santa, who arrived in town with Caleb Theroux, this year’s Junior Citizen of the Year.
As part of the tradition of this long-running community event, every year, one deserving youth from the Lac La Biche area who is involved with volunteering and helping out in the community receives the Junior Citizen of the Year Award. This award is held in conjunction with the parade and the tree lighting.
This year's even saw several hundred residents line the Main Street route from 103 Street to McArthur Park at 100 Street. The route was a change from previous years of the event, which had ended at the school division office with the lighting of a large Christmas tree. Instead this year, as planted spruce trees grow in the newly created park setting, a tree was brought into the park, set up, and lit with the flick of a switch by this year's junior citizen.
