One of many local homes decorated for the Holiday Season that can be viewed as part of the 2019 Red Deer Christmas Light Tour. (Supplied)

By Sheldon Spackman

LIT FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Red Deer’s Christmas Light Tour is back!

Dec 9, 2019 | 10:05 AM

Red Deerians can once again bolster their holiday spirit by embarking on the 2019 Christmas Light Tour.

With many local homes already decorated for the season, Jim Elliott and his son A.J. have put together a four-part tour of the city to view at your leisure and see some impressively-festive light displays.

Elliott says the tour has very deep roots.

“When arriving in Red Deer 50 years ago, I started my first job in the City at the Alberta School Hospital (A.S.H. – Michener Centre today),” he recalls. “At the time, this was a world-renowned facility for the care and treatment of patients, both young and old, suffering with mental and physical disabilities. This experience impacted me deeply.”

Elliott says working there showed him how much people simply wanted to be accepted, loved, cared for, and respected like any other individual would want in life.

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“The Christmas Light Tour was born in 1972 while operating a Vern’s Taxicab in our fair City,” says Elliott. “Those patients at A.S.H. never forgot anyone who was kind to them. During my off hours from taking fares, I would take many of the residents out on a small light tour in my cab. To see the smiles on their faces when they saw our small city lit up with all those sparkling colored Christmas lights, it was a site to behold.”

Another example of a beautifully-decorated home that you can see on the 2019 Red Deer Christmas Light Tour. (Supplied)

Elliott says George Moon, one of the original owners of the Club Café, took an interest in Elliott sharing with others, and gave him some gas money and some small Christmas gifts for the children and older people.

“He also enjoyed seeing the lights of Red Deer,” adds Elliott. “In later years while working with the Red Deer Transit System, the light tour was reborn again. I started by renting one bus from the City and providing a tour for students, their friends, mothers, fathers, siblings, and grandparents from what was then called the Children’s Services Centre (now called Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre).”

Elliott says for many years he rented four buses, with each one filled-to-capacity with the students and their families.

“As well, for three years we operated tours for the Central Alberta Women’s Shelter. About five years ago we had to give up the buses because on the really cold nights, the windows would ice up so bad the people onboard could see very little anyway. However, the primary reason for not using the buses anymore was the cost.”

Since that time, Elliott says he and A.J. have spent their time creating routes around Red Deer, and give them out to anyone who wants to follow the routes in their own vehicles.

“This year is going to be the best-ever,” he exclaims. “A.J. has added six new subdivisions and the total time to see it all is well over four hours. He has broken those down into four separate sections so that the citizens may pick and choose wherever and whatever they want.”

Elliott says the city that has been so kind to him and his family deserves to be treated with respect and kindness.

“I have tried to teach my children that giving back to the community that you love is the best thing you can ever do,” concludes Elliott. “I think the 2019 Red Deer Christmas Light Tour does just that.”