FORMOSA – The largest family Christmas event in southern Grey and Bruce counties is fast approaching.
Formosa Country Christmas (FCC) will again be a drive-thru event only with a fourth evening of viewing added because of the overwhelming crowd last year. The four-day event will run Dec. 2-5, beginning at 5 p.m. each day. Be prepared to see all kinds of new lighted displays throughout the village. The larger than life-sized chainsaw-carved Nativity Scene situated in front of the Valley View Senior Apartments, and the North Pole in the Lions Park will see Santa’s elves have made some changes. As you and your family slowly travel through Formosa Country Christmas you will be in awe.
The Formosa Lions will again host a house-decorating contest, so every nook and cranny will bid Merry Christmas to you and your family.
FCC thanks the many sponsors for their support enabling the FCC team to build a FCC storage/workshop in the park. Thanks as well for donations made by patrons as they drove through the 2020 event supplying funds for the new displays.
How did the event begin?
In 1993, the Saugeen Valley Conservation Foundation, which is the fundraising component of Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA), began the Christmas in the Country event at Sulphur Springs Conservation Area between Hanover and Neustadt. Volunteers from those communities and the surrounding communities, headed by Shannon Wood, made this the place to be each year for three days, attracting 5,000 to 7,000 patrons.
As the event grew, Sulphur Springs became too small, especially when the Saugeen Valley Children’s Safety Village was built. It was time to find a new location for this annual Christmas event.
With the SVCA office located in Formosa, and the community having been good to the Foundation in the past, it was decided to combine Christmas in the Country with the Formosa Nativity Scene celebration.
In 2019, the three-day event moved, taking over the whole village of Formosa with all public and some private buildings utilized. SVCA generously donated the decorations and lights they had accumulated over the past 26 years. Past volunteers brought their planning and decorating expertise and the Formosa residents began making new displays.
When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, it meant no personal contact. The SVCA also withdrew as organizers. As a result, a whole new event was planned for 2020 and the event name was changed to Formosa Country Christmas. The three-day event became a drive-thru with the whole village decorated with hundreds of displays and thousands of lights. It was a booming success, with 2,555 cars loaded with anywhere from two to six (or more) people in a vehicle viewing the amazing lighted village.
