Tourism BC Fresh Ideas, October 2009

• BC boasts Yuletide festivities with a traditional twist
• Province-wide Celebrations Light up the Night
• Winter Means Family Fun in British Columbia
• Celebrate the Season with Performance and Art
• Happy New Year!

BC boasts Yuletide festivities with a traditional twist: This season, British Columbia offers a host of historical gems to set the winter scene. Kick off the merriment with yuletide carols, horse-drawn sleigh rides and snowy exploration in the Enchanted Forest during the Barkerville Historic Town Old Fashioned Christmas, December 12 - 14. Set in the province's largest historic site in the rich Cariboo Chilcotin Coast gold mining region, this blast from the past beckons with strolls through the Mining and Chinese museums, visits to the Mason and Daly General Store and Goldfield Bakery for handmade treats, and festive performances by Theatre Royal at the Methodist Church. At Fort Steele Heritage Town in BC's Kootenay Rockies, Clydesdales take centre stage Sundays in December during the turn-of-the-century town's Sleigh Ride Days, complete with bonfires, hot chocolate and toasty marshmallows. Further west near Vancouver, a Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village, November 21 – January 3, offers face time with Father Christmas, tours though historical buildings, crafts for the kids and seasonal evening and weekend performances along the village streets. Should Island festivities be more to your liking, lace up in Victoria for historic – and haunted - winter walking tours. Throughout December, Discover the Past will walk you through the legends and lore of BC's premier ethereal city during their Ghosts of Christmas Past excursions. Post walk, warm the toes at a Vancouver Island castle...an 1890s Victorian mansion, and former home to a wealthy coal baron, to be precise. The bedecked Craigdarroch Castle will showcase an array of festivities sure to stir the spirit: deck the halls during rousing musical performances, gather the little ones for seasonal entertainment, or settle in for storytelling in the castle's dance hall. www.barkerville.ca; www.FortSteele.ca; www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca; www.discoverthepast.com; www.thecastle.ca

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Province-wide Celebrations Light up the Night: Should your desire for time-honoured holiday tradition include the twinkle of a thousand little lights, get thee to a garden. Where to start? Check out Vancouver Island's endless evergreen in Qualicum Beach during Milner Christmas Magic. A showcase of old growth Douglas firs and cedars decked out in shimmer, this outing offers musical interludes by local talents and sweet treats in the tearoom Fridays through Sundays in December. In Vancouver, Bright Nights at Stanley Park, a yearly fundraiser for the BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund, will bring out the crowds November 27 – January 2, for hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts, tours of the children's farmyard, and a forest-fringed train ride through some two million twinkling lights. For more frolic in the city, a winter wonderland and 1.4 million sparkles will set the scene during the Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden, December 11 – January 3. The best part? There are more ways than one to view the city's greenery: Christmas crooners can hop aboard the Vancouver Trolley December 11 - 12, and 18 - 24 for the Karaoke Christmas Lights Trolley Tour - a memorable musical journey of Stanley Park and the VanDusen Botanical Garden. For an illuminating experience on the water, head to the shore for views of some 80 boats bedecked with lights: the Carol Ship Parade of Lights, situated in Vancouver's Coal Harbour December 3 – 23, promises a sea of sparkle with some 150,000 twinkles and a chorus of singing voices. Bright lights in the wild beckon in the Thompson Okanagan: during the Wildlights Event, December 11 – January 3, the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops will showcase over 350 shimmering life-sized wildlife sculptures, wagon rides to the “North Pole” on the Wildlife Miniature Train, and nightly shows of synchronized music, lights and festive fireworks. Family bonding is the name of the game in Northern BC. For a drive through a winter wonderland, point your compass to Prince George and take in the Northern Lights Festival. This out-of-doors spectacle will gather the gang November 21 – January 2, as families bundle up for a scenic drive through snowy Connaught Hill Park; animated displays run the gamut from Santa's reindeer to prehistoric creatures – all sure to light up the night. www.milnergardens.org; www.vancouverparks.ca; www.vandusengarden.org; www.vancouvertrolley.com; www.carolships.org; www.bczoo.org; www.tourismpg.com

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