Perry County will get a dose of old-time heritage this Christmas season.
Hemman Winery will host the Brazeau Christmas Walk on Dec. 3. The event, which has been held for more than 25 years, will be held in Brazeau from 3-8 p.m.
For event organizer Bonnie Hemman, the event has its own type of charm.
“It’s a cool, magical evening,” she said. “There’s not many events like it anymore. You can come and not spend any money if you don’t want to.
There is a live nativity, luminaras light the sidewalks and the whole town is lit up in Christmas lights.
There are sandwiches, and other food available for a free will donation. There will also be a craft fair set up with approximately 20 vendors.
There is a Christmas hymn sing-along from 5-7 p.m. in the nearby church as well. The Hemman Winery has a heated outdoor patio to enjoy all of the night’s festivities.
Hemman noted there is a new attraction this year as she called an “angel tree.”
There will be envelopes on a tree to different organizations in Perry County. A person puts money in the envelope and donates it to the organization and in turn puts an “angel” on the tree in its place.
“Our hope is to fill the tree with angels,” she said. “If people wanted to write the name of a loved one on the angel that would be great.”
Hemman noted that the angel tree is a spin-off of an idea from a prior year’s “Hope Tree.”
“Last year, we did a Hope Tree, where a person could tie a ribbon on the tree and say a prayer for a loved one,” she said. “We thought we wanted to do a angel tree and encourage donations because one thing I truly believe in is that God gives us gifts and it’s our responsibility to give back.
That can go across the board to everyone, no matter what your bank statement says or what possessions you have, God still gives you enough to give back. It was a big thing for me to keep that type of thing in Perry County to help families here during the holiday season.”
The Christmas Walk is always well-attended, if the weather is good.
“It really depends on the weather because it’s an outdoor event,” Hemman said. “The last several years we have had beautiful evenings and we have had over 500 people attend.”
Hemman also noted that the historic buildings will be open that night for people to go in and tour. All proceeds go to keeping the historic buildings preserved.
“We don’t get any federal funds and we do it all on our own to keep our town looking nice.
Hemman is excited for another exciting event.
“It’s really an old-fashioned Christmas feel,” she said.
