No one wants to be the person who cancels Christmas or any of its events.
But after 10 years and countless donated hours, that’s exactly the sleigh in which Cindy Cardiff and Gregory Fischer have found themselves.
“We have been thinking about this for over a year and a half,” said Fischer, his face heavy with the seemingly endless thought behind the decision to cancel this year’s Squamish Christmas Market.
“It’s grown to host more than 50 vendors, live music and multiple activities,” Cardiff chimed in. “It takes us a good six month to organize it.”
“Our first meeting for the Christmas Market is right after Canada Day,” Fischer said.
The Christmas Market started as a dream the duo wanted to create that would have the atmosphere of a traditional outdoor European Christmas Market. It quickly caught on with the community, expanding to include a winter beer garden, street hockey, sleigh and pony rides and food vendors.
The festivity also represented a fundraiser for a slew of local organizations, everything from the Squamish SPCA to Squamish Helping Hands.
While Cardiff and Fischer say they couldn’t be happier about how the market panned out, its expansion came with more expenses and volunteered hours.
“It is hard to let it go. It is sort of our baby, but it is too much to do on our own, though,” Cardiff said.
With the weight on their shoulders becoming overbearing, the team went back to the drawing board. What they’ve come up with is a small, more intimate multi-day event.
“You know us,” Cardiff half-heartedly jokes. “We cannot do nothing. We are kids at heart too.”
Fischer’s business, Bistro & Gelato Carina, will be transformed into a winter wonderland during the four weekends leading up to Christmas. Cardiff has already reached out to Santa to ensure he will meet with Squamish children for photos. There will be live Christmas music and arts and crafts for the little ones. Adults will be able to warm up with a mug of mulled wine.
“We are also going to showcase a few local artisans,” Cardiff added, noting everything will be handmade.
The idea is to get back to the roots of a small European Christmas festival, Fischer says. The children’s literary and art contest to win a ride in a helicopter with the jolly man himself will continue, Cardiff said.
“We love Christmas,” she says. “We would never give up on Christmas.”
The Santa parade, which is organized by the Squamish Downtown Business Association, is still going ahead, the association’s executive director Bianca Peters says. It will be held on Cleveland Avenue on Friday, Dec. 4 starting at 7 p.m.
“Come on out. It is going to be fantastic,” she said.
