This community continues to surprise me in the best ways.

As everyone is aware by now, new restrictions brought in by the province have limited our early Christmas celebrations by forcing cancellations of the parade in Bellevue and the Christmas Market.

There were so many amazing vendors who were eager to set up and showcase their products at that market.

Immediately once the market was cancelled, many people were on Facebook in the Crowsnest Network saying they still wanted to purchase items from vendors who would’ve been at the market.

It was awesome to see how much locals wanted to help each other out.

I also had my parents visit this past weekend and they were also looking forward to seeing the Crowsnest Pass’s Christmas spirit.

While they weren’t able to see the parade or take in the market, they still witnessed the beautiful lights on main street Bellevue, shop at some of the local stores in the Pass and were still witness to some of the great Christmas cheer the Pass has.

A huge focus this year from the Crowsnest Pass Chamber has been to shop local as much as possible.

The passports that were distributed in our last issue will hopefully help get more people out to our local shops.

I found everything I needed for my Secret Santa exchange here.

There are so many amazing stores in this community and some of the items you can find are simply perfect.

Let’s continue to shop local and support our local business owners.

It’s been a rough year for them so let’s spread some Christmas joy this year by helping them out as much as we can.