Candy Cane Lane returns for biggest year yet and first ever Christmas parade comes to Kelowna

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Some festive and COVID-friendly holiday celebrations are coming up in Kelowna to bring joy to people during the pandemic, while also raising funds for local non-profit organizations.

Candy Cane Lane is gearing up for its 10th year in Kelowna’s Springvalley neighbourhood and organizers say it will be the biggest event yet with approximately 60 houses participating.

“It’s your everyday average neighbourhood in Rutland that has a lot of heart and goes all out during Christmas time with lights and decorations,” says co-organizer Damjan Madjar.

Residents along Collison Road, Gramiak Road and Mary Court decorate their yards with Christmas magic every year running Dec. 1 until Jan 1. Light displays will be on between 5 and 10 p.m. every evening.

“During times of COVID, we still encourage people to come. You can walk, it’s outside,” explains. Madjar. “Now is a time more than ever that something like this is needed.”

Viewing the displays is free of charge, however visitors are strongly encouraged to donate non-perishable food items to the Kelowna Woman’s Shelter and Freedoms Door, a men’s addiction recovery program.

People can drop off their donations in the empty lit-up apple bin on the corner of Collison and Gramiak Road. Candy Cane Lane raised 12,000 pounds of food last year for Springvalley Elementary school’s Breakfast Club.

“We really like to give back to our direct community, so that’s why I implore other parts of the city to do something the same and benefit parts within their smaller communities,” says Madjar.

Tim Hortons will be giving away free Hot Chocolate and Timbits to visitors of Candy Cane Lane on Dec. 5, 12, 19 and 20th from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Our teams that have been serving everything safely for the past several months are volunteering their time to help make this happen for our community,” says general manager Travis Olsvik.

Another thing Kelowna residents can look forward to this holiday season is the first ever Christmas parade, which is being held by organizers of the popular Grenfell Road haunted house.

Earlier this year on Halloween, organizers behind Grenfell Road decided to host a Halloween parade instead of the haunted house, due to safety concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We saw the impact the parade had on people,” says co-organizer Candace Banks. “The reactions we got from the community were just huge and watching everybody’s worries melt away, even for that 10-15 minutes while we were doing the parade, made us realize that its something that was needed this year.”

While organizers specialize in scaring people on Halloween, they are looking forward to bringing holiday cheer to people through the Christmas parade on Dec. 19.

Various decorated cars and trailers will make their way through Central downtown, Glenmore, Rutland and Candy Cane Lane. The parade takes place from 4 to 8 p.m.

“A lot of people are bummed out that they’re not able to go be with family right now…let them forget for a few minutes that we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” says Banks.

All participants in the parade will be following COVID-19 friendly protocols and spectators are encouraged to watch the parade from the comfort of their vehicles.

The Christmas parade will be raising funds for Mamas for Mamas. Gently used clothing, gently used/new toys and non-perishable food items will also be accepted.