Stories of Alberta: Stettler’s Light the Night

December 12, 2024

How the Stettler Town and Country Museum brightens the holiday season

“It’s a way to show community spirit during the holiday season.”

If you’re driving down Alberta Provincial Highway No. 12 near Stettler on a dark December evening, you’ll notice a collection of bright lights against the winter sky. Follow those lights and you’ll discover a Christmas wonderland; a true showcase of the season, the community’s history and its local businesses.

It was 2014 when the Stettler Town and Country Museum began their annual tradition of Light the Night. Karen Wahlund, long-time supporter of the Stettler Museum and now its manager, was inspired by a simple comment that it was too bad the museum grounds weren’t brighter in the wintertime.

So, she got to thinking — why couldn’t they be?

In October of that year, Karen started going around to local businesses to see who’d help them decorate the grounds with Christmas lights and, in turn, they’d promote their business. They ended up with 15 displays. Not only has it become their biggest fundraiser of the year, but the Stettler Museum has also become known as a celebratory destination for the Christmas season.

“Every year we get people coming in to see the displays. They’re maybe from Red Deer or just family visiting family…or they're in town for the Polar Express and they see the lights from the highway and come over to see what it's about. They’re quite impressed for our small community to have such a thing,” Karen says.

The Stettler Museum was created in 1972 by local volunteers. Similar to a pioneer village, the grounds consist of a half-kilometre loop of about twenty-six buildings that house open displays with historical artifacts in the museum’s trust. Light the Night showcases some of that old-time charm with wagon rides led by Clydesdale horses and hayrides towed behind a John Deere Model A from the local Stettler Antique Tractor Club.

New this year, the Stettler Museum is holding its first-ever “Elevator to the North Pole,” where visitors are transported to Santa’s living room for a friendly visit with the man himself.

“It’s just a festive aspect of Stettler; something to do, something to be proud of. It’s a way to show community spirit during the holiday season,” says Karen. It’s also a place where memories are made. One year, they even had a proposal take place in one of their displays, a gazebo all lit up. The Christmas magic worked, says Karen: “They’re happily married now.”

Karen believes that same Christmas magic will continue to shine bright for years to come, continuing to grow and showcase even more local businesses. But they couldn’t do it without the support of their community. “If it wasn't for community volunteers and our county and town supporting the museum, we’d have difficulty performing these events,” says Karen.

And the Stettler Museum supports the community right back. Providing a place to come together, to share in their history and create new traditions. Those bright lights you see from the highway are more than just a symbol of the season, says Karen. “It’s a way for the museum to try to show the community that we’re here and we want to give them a place to be happy.”