St. Jacobs Sparkles celebrates the holiday season

Photo by Luke Sarazin

St. Jacobs Sparkles is a 4-day holiday event which celebrates the holiday season.

The event takes place from Nov. 16 to 19 at the downtown core of St. Jacobs.

St. Jacobs is a village set along the Conestoga River with various shops, restaurants, boutique, original artisans shops, and a short bus or car ride away from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Wideman explained that many people are unaware of the Grand River Transit bus route that leads right to the village. Many students can access the bus service for free using their Laurier One Card.

“St. Jacobs is actually a community, [many] people know about the St. Jacobs farms market. The market is actually located three kilometers south of the actual town of St. Jacobs so it’s a [small village] there’s just around 3,000 residents,” Marilyn Wideman, director of marketing for St. Jacobs Country, said.

“The downtown core [of St. Jacobs] is a real hub of one of a kind shops original craftsmanship so really unique kinds of stores that you won’t find anywhere else because they are independent merchants for the most part,” Wideman said.

St. Jacobs will have thousands of Christmas lights showcased around the town, select free food and drinks in various shops, as well as special store promotion, Victorian Christmas carolers and horse drawn carriage rides.

St. Jacobs country and St. Jacobs BIA are the co-sponsors of St. Jacobs Sparkles.

“This event runs rain or shine or snow, so if the weather is cold or [windy] bundle up and come on out. You won’t regret it.”

“It is a four-day celebratory village-wide kick-off of the holiday shopping season,” Wideman said.

“All the retail merchants in the downtown core participate and are encouraged to put their best foot forward in terms of once a year savings, in store contests, offering free refreshments, or [anything] they can dream up.”

The Christmas lights that are hung across the town provide a holiday feel to accompany the many deals in stores. According to Wideman this is one of the only occasions all year that stores and restaurants are open late at night in St. Jacobs.

“What’s cool about that is that is the only time of year that the entire town is open that late at night, so that’s a once a year thing, it’s you’re once a year opportunity to be out in the evening in this beautiful charming town with all the Christmas lights on.”

In addition to the Christmas lights hung up around St. Jacobs Country there is also programming out on the streets of St. Jacobs.

“On the street you have a variety of activities … Thursday and Friday night and Saturday afternoon we will have horse drawn trolley rides so you can hop on at one end of town and get dropped off at the other; the [horse drawn trolley rides] are free,” Wideman said.

“We will also have wandering Victorian carolers on the streets [and] our local fire fighters come out and host a burn barrel, so you can stop by there to warm up your hands.” In addition they will also be serving hot, sweet apple cider.

Wideman explained that many people are unaware of the Grand River Transit bus route that leads right to the village. Many students can access the bus service for free using their Laurier One Card.

“Grand river transit does have a route that comes right into St. Jacobs,” Wideman said. “It is route 21.”

“Any students who don’t have vehicles can still come to this event and take public transit,” Wideman said.

“This event runs rain or shine or snow, so if the weather is cold or [windy] bundle up and come on out. You won’t regret it,” Wideman said.

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