Donald’s whole town Christmas party was held on Friday, December 20, and despite considerable weather challenges, entertained the community as well as rewarding a number of lucky shoppers with the much-anticipated Chamber of Commerce Christmas draw.

I arrived to the sounds of Christmas carols being carried by the winds, with laughter and joy swiftly following. 

The breeze kept the heat in check and it promised to be a warm and welcoming evening. However, shortly after my arrival the first unfortunate disaster struck and the power suddenly shut off. 

With the carols muted and the the bouncy castle deflating, I paused to wonder what that meant for the evening, for the people already gathered and the more to come. 

I did not need to wait long, however, as quickly a voice sang out, paired beautifully with a guitar. The kids were all screaming and shouting their excitement as they spent time with both Santa Claus and getting their face painted. There were also free Zooper Doopers, though those weren’t only for the kids!

The Lions Club also worked through the heat, perhaps even adding quite a bit of their own with the amount of food coming off the grill! While it was certainly a shame that many of the planned activities fell through because of the Grampians fire, I had been looking forward to tiny goats! The biggest take away was how connected the community is. 

When the power first went out and the microphones stopped working, not only did some people head out to get a generator up and running, others came to offer their own support either in what they could do or what they could get. 

Many thanks to those who were so willing to assist with keeping the show going! While the show may not have been what people expected, and my heart goes out to all the organisers, the community coming together really showed what Donald’s people are all about.

Winners
Huge congratulations to all the winners! 

• This year for the Christmas lights and decorations competition, we had Meyer Street taking home best street, stopping Napier from a third win in a row!
• That doesn’t mean Napier Street didn’t have a good showing with the Flagg family of 7 Napier Street taking home best house. 
• This year was added a new category, a kids choice award! The winner of this new award was the Chapman family, at 12 Elizabeth Street.
• Then of course we moved on to the big draws out of the barrel! With a bunch of good spins to make sure it was all well and mixed up, the draw began.
• Sixth to ninth place, winning $250 were Kim Spencer, Mark Northwinds, Megan Jardine, and Mon Humphrey.
• Fourth and fifth, winning $500, Alison McEwen and Cheteina Chuwthusi.
• Third, winning $1,000, was Vicci Howard.
• Second, winning $2,000 was once again Mon Humphrey.
• First, winning the big $5,000, was Brian Legg!
• And another congratulation to the voucher winners: Christine Weaver, Pat Hepworth, Collie Cartright, Megan Box, Geoff Rigby, Peter Wyllie, Jenny Guild and Geoff Rigby.

While not everything went as planned – few things seem to this year – it was an incredible experience to see the community really come together to make the event enjoyable in the face of such misfortune. Once more I thank all who set this up and I hope everyone has a merry Christmas!