Vegreville’s pre-schoolers were centre stage for the 5th annual Reindeer Lane at the Social Centre on Saturday, November 26! This is the event where the Vegreville Preschool organizations and volunteers come together each year to make the lead up to Christmas fun and helpful for the 3 and 4 year olds and their families. There were over 250 in attendance again this year.

It was all about Santa coming to town, each class singing Christmas songs on stage, little ones finding presents for their family (without parents’ help, of course) along with plenty of hot chocolate and cookies! Perogies and Jam was pleased to contribute to the fun through music performances mixed among the afternoon of pre-schoolers on stage. As preparations were underway and children lined up to go shopping and visit Santa, local performers filled the Social Centre with music, and MC Don Harfield welcomed families to the event.

The performances started at Noon with Darlene Thibault (acoustic guitar) singing Coat of Many Colours, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Silver Bells, Let it Snow, The Drummer Boy, Jingle Bells and The Marvellous Toy. This was followed by Don Harfield (12 string guitar) and Liam Bonser (flute) singing songs including Lord of the Dance, Mary Did You Know and I’ll Be Home For Christmas.

Rianna Coutts and her helper Tammy Iftody brought the first set of pre-schoolers onto the stage and the shy and the not-so-shy pre-schoolers sang Twinkle Twinkle, Reindeer Pokey and Jingle Bells to the delight of their parents, grand-parents, families, and everyone.

Debbie Fedoruk on acoustic piano and her vocal students performed next. Abigail Rumble sang A Joyful Song, Jessie Zeleny sang The First Noel, Tristan Neil sang You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch, and Julia Dolejsi sang A-Rockin’ All Night. Debbie Fedoruk concluded their set performing Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Don Harfield, Liam Bonser and Darlene Thibault then performed songs together including Do You Hear What I Hear, All I Want for Christmas and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Upon Don’s invitation, several pre-schoolers came up on stage and Darlene included them in the singing of Frosty the Snowman. They finished their set with We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Rianna Coutts and Tammy Iftody brought the second set of pre-schoolers onto the stage and the pre-schoolers sang Twinkle Twinkle, Reindeer Pokey and Jingle Bells to the delight of all in attendance.

The Off Ramp Boys with Randy Kereliuk (guitar and lead vocals), Ralph Lange (upright bass), Gordon Forbes (lead guitar) and Rob Hughes (drums) completed the afternoon of music performances. They performed a full set of songs including Alberta Christmas Morning, Jingle Bells, It All Started with a Child, the Hockey Song (featuring Gordon Forbes) and Waiting for Christmas. Other songs included Country Roads.

Reindeer Lane has become a local tradition leading up to Christmas! Vegreville is proud to have people who care for the young ones in our community, including the Vegreville Preschool Association, Parent Link Center, Vegreville Day Homes, Family and Community Social Services and the Community Association for Lasting Success, along with the financial and volunteer support of Flaman Rentals.

Perogies and Jam thanks the many volunteers for their contribution to making this so much fun for the children and their families. We appreciate the musicians, photography by Rob Hughes, Peter Thibault on the soundboard, and the many who volunteered to make this event a success again this year – Thanks!

We hope you like the photos!

Photo Gallery
Photography by Rob Hughes & Don Harfield