I love Christmas on Bowen Island. Our celebrations have evolved into a traditional pattern with simple but festive components.
The season opens with Light up Bowen, Saturday December 6th (this year falling on St Nicholas Day). It starts with a Lantern Parade, always led by the Black Sheep, and this year the Sugarplum Fairy and a Gingerbread Man. The parade travels from Artisan Square to Village Square. At both stops, there’s music and good cheer. Then onto the Lower Cove where the firing of the cannon marks the Light Up of the Cove and Family Places’ Festival of Trees. The Cates Hill Chapel Live Nativity starts right after, on the Rotary Stage, ending with the arrival of Santa Claus by Cormorant Marine water taxi. Santa greets all the children at Doc Morgan’s, where a party is held for all, with music, hot beverages and treats.
The kick off to Light up Bowen is the evening before, Friday December 5th, at Cates Hill Chapel, with the Penrhyn Academy of Singing “Sounds of Christmas” concert. Lynn Williams will be singing her favourite Christmas songs, the Ladies Madrigal Singers will perform a wonderful collection of old and new pieces, plus there’s the debut of Alison Nixon’s children choir.
Following Light up Bowen, on Sunday December 7th, is the Annual CSA Christmas Craft Fair with its gala array of handmade gift items. Starting at 10 am at the Bowen Island Community School. Such a fun event, the whole island turns out and you might win a cake if you enter the annual “Cake Walk” (a CSA tradition loved by all).
The following weekend, Saturday December 13th, Artisan Square is celebrating the season with their Annual Christmas Crafts Fair. There will be music, pet photos with Santa, street food, BIG “sidewalk” sale, local crafters, various draws and even a snow globe making workshop!
That same day, the Bowen Island Community Choirs’ Christmas Concert is at Cates Hill Chapel. Their are two performance, one at 2 pm or 7:30 pm. This is a concert not to be missed! This group is so much more than simply a choir. They are the voices of islanders weaving soundscapes under Ellen MacIntosh’s fine artistic direction and they have created lasting friendships that grow through a common passion.
To add to this fantastic line-up of Christmas celebrations are the numerous house concerts and for a growing number of years, Graham Ritchie, Tina Nielsen, Angie McCulloch and Martin Clarke have used their dramatic skills to present a reading of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. This year the Dickens Players will present the 15th annual reading of A Christmas Carol on December 14th, 7:30 pm at Collins Hall . . . at the finale there will not be a dry eye in the house.
If you are lucky, commencing the week of December 19th, you might catch the Black Sheep Mummers performing one of their plays on the Ferry or at one of Bowen Island’s local pubs. Mummers’ Plays are folk dramas based on the legend of St. George and the Seven Champions of Christendom. Many historians believe that this drama is a celebration of the death of the year (December 21) and its resurrection in the Spring. Donations are accepted for each performance and they are give to the Bowen Island Food bank and the Christmas Hamper fund.
An unseen, but important part of Bowen’s Christmas, is the Christmas Hamper Drive. I’m not sure when it started, exactly, but I seem to recall Rita Greenlaw making contact with a similar program in West Vancouver to learn how to create a Christmas hamper on Bowen Island. Before too long, Bowen was able to handle its own. The team suggests new toys and games, arts & craft supplies and non-perishable food items, and cash donations are helpful because the funds can be used to fill in gaps.
And, don’t forget all the special services that the Bowen Island churches have during the Christmas season. Childrens’ Christmas pageants, carol singing and candle light services. I especially enjoy the Cates Hill Chapel caroling party in Deep Bay, though I’ve been told I can’t sing, so I’m sure the residents there don’t appreciate me belting out We Three Kings, off key.
Yep . . . Bowen Island really knows how to celebrate Christmas!
See you all at Light up Bowen!
