2024 Heritage Park Ramble

 Yesterday, December 14 2024, we had our annual ramble at Heritage Park's "Once Upon a Christmas".

The weather was just around freezing with snow still on the ground from a recent snowfall here in Calgary. There was a lot of ice on the roads but the board walks were clear and the park did a great job of keeping the roads sanded.

This year was the largest group participation in this event, with VSA members, WWI re-enactors and a couple of Civil War re-enactors rounding out the group.

VSA members and Guests on the Porch of the Prince House

Joining us for much of the day was Clare Young who is a member of the Special Events team at Heritage Park and a VSA member. Clare snagged us a spot at the volunteer canteen for lunch and we did our part to help use up the leftover beef stew and deserts, after the regular volunteers had had theirs of course!

The Prince House

Heading into town

Meeting with the Town Crier

At the Midnapore station we watched the Heritage Park young telegraphers busily sending "Telegrams to Santa"  for all the kids. Especially important this year given the Postal Strike!  This group of eager budding telegraphers have been studying telegraphy under the watchful tutelage of Janice Povey and Marilyn Maguire and this was their first taste of actually sending messages across the wire. 

Junior Telegraphers
Keeping up a steady traffic to the North Pole.

Junior Telegrapher
Bravely manning the North Pole station (in the back room)

Marilyn (L) and Janice (R)
Marshalling the lineup and writing out the telegrams for the kids.

The park was really busy with lots of guests and frequent horse drawn wagons and carriages taking guest around the park  One of our favourite parts of our Christmas Ramble is to head to the Settlement part of the park.  This area represents the very early days of the colonization of the West and lies firmly in the middle of our period. It is also closed in Winter so it is a great place to wander apart from the hustle and bustle of the center of town. 

On the road to the "Settlement"

Laggan station, closed for the winter, was the original station from Lake Louise.

After a perusal of the very busy Christmas Market, in the large tents in the park, and after carefully sampling many of the wares of small distilleries, we bid adieu to Heritage Park and headed North to the town of Airdrie for their annual "Victorian Skating Party" during the town's "Festival of Lights".

The last two years have been incredibly cold but the temperature was quite pleasant, out of the wind, and we helped to add some period atmosphere to this great event.

Stunning light displays in the park

Another great Christmas Ramble.
Looking forward to next year. 

Wishing you all a very pleasant Christmas Season.

The Victorian Society of Alberta