Asphodel Norwood welcomes in the Christmas season

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There is nothing quite like a festive parade of floats festooned with trees, reindeers and twinkling lights to get a person into the Christmas spirit. As organizers of Norwood’s Santa Claus Parade, the Norwood Legion and Asphodel Norwood Fire and Rescue have this exercise perfected and their annual Santa Claus Parade did not disappoint.

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There were about 20 brightly decorated floats plus most of the Fire and Rescue’s finest along with their support vehicles, the Norwood Fair Ambassador, the Junior Fair Ambassador and of course the jolly old elf himself with his missus making their way through the village’s side streets on the evening of November 29 to officially kick of the Christmas Season in the township. The parade, themed as “A Small Town Christmas” concluded at the fairgrounds where spectators and participants were treated to a fantastic display of fireworks provided by the fire department, before making their way across the grounds to the Norwood Legion to enjoy some hot chocolate and a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

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Parade participants generally engage in a little good natured competition to see who can come up with the biggest and brightest entry and this year the title was well earned by Norwood’s St. Paul Elementary School who pulled out all the stops creating their winning entry. Second prize went to Norwood’s Pentecostal Church for their Reason for the Season entry. Rounding out the top three was the festive entry from the Norwood Minor Sports and their creative crew. The Legion extends a big thank you to everyone who entered a float, special thanks to the Norwood fire and rescue for the incredible fireworks display, for leading the parade and for traffic control and finally a special thanks to all who came out to watch and enjoy the festivities on a chilly evening.

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The legion also added a new feature this year, an indoor vendors market in the legion’s main hall. By all accounts it was a good success as visitors had the opportunity to shop for unique gifts and goodies before and after the parade.

Asphodel Norwood also made a change to their annual Holiday Night Market by having its 2025 edition return earlier than usual to correspond with the parade. The town was a busy place with good crowds visiting the various vendors set up in the Town Hall and the downtown stores that stayed open late to take part in the festivities. The Norwood branch of the Asphodel Norwood Library was also participating with a variety of special activities for the kids.

The countdown to Christmas has officially begun in Asphodel Norwood.

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“Baking” history

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church hosted their annual Christmas Bazaar on December 6th. A steady stream of visitors braved the less then favourable wintery weather to enjoy a tasty soup and desert lunch or just do a little holiday shopping at the various vendors’ tables. St. Andrew’s bazaar has been a community tradition for more than half a century and it also happens to be the last Christmas Bazaar of the season in the village.

The local historic church (the corner stone was set in place in 1878) also took part in the annual Santa Claus Parade. A creative crew and very willing child labour constructed a special float to commemorate to 60th anniversary of the church’s annual shortbread fundraiser. St. Andrew’s is quite famous for its Christmas time buttery biscuits, for six decades church members have been rolling out, cutting out, baking and packing shortbread cookies to help raise funds for various projects in the church. The children sparkled in their costumes, dressed up like cookies in the well-known shapes that the church has used for their biscuits since 1965. Also proving that somethings (for the best in this case) never change, the church has also been using the same Scottish shortbread recipe for the last 60 years.

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Community Christmas Carol Sing

Asphodel-Norwood continues their celebration of the holiday season this Sunday, December 14 with their annual Community Christmas Carol Sing. This treasured homage has been a highly anticipated event in the village for 47 years and counting and will be taking place this year at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (19 Flora St.) beginning at 7 p.m.

The program features a selection of traditional and modern hymns and anthems intermixed with a few readings and scripture. The 2025 choir is made up of 42 individuals from the village and the surrounding area. The choir has been under the leadership of Mike Davidson and Hajnalka Hos for the last several years, with Kirsten Walsh providing accompaniment on the piano. All are welcome, a free will offering is usually collected and donated to the Asphodel-Norwood Food Bank.

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The Community Carol Sing traces its roots back to the later months of 1977; at the time the village of Norwood was just about to celebrate its 100th birthday (The town was incorporated as a village on January 1, 1878) and many ideas and suggestions on how to observe this milestone were put forward. Ted McGaffin who was the village Reeve at the time, requested that the Norwood Council call a public meeting with the idea of organizing a Christmas Carol Service. The meeting was held in November of 1977 with over 30 people in attendance. Council requested volunteers to organize the event; Jack Stewart, Earl Hamblin and Thelma Tedford stepped forward to take charge of creating the very first carol service. The first official carol service was held the following year in December of 1978 in the Norwood Town Hall. Formed mostly from choir members from the area churches the first community choir had 75 members and they stretched across the front of the town hall from one wall to the other and filled up most of the stage as well. The hall itself was packed to capacity with excited residents. The program for the service remained relatively unchanged over the years until recently. Greetings and best wishes from the village council would be followed by a group from each church performing a selection of music; the clergy of each church would say a few words and the entire choir would then sing several numbers as a group. Residents and choir members would also sing several

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carols together. (The present day program has the entire choir singing nearly everything together.) The service moved from the town hall into the local churches early on in its history, rotating each year, with each church taking a turn. The choir and audience soon outgrew the capacity limits for most of the churches, so due to the United Church’s size, central location and accessibility, it has been the chosen host for the past many years. Although similar in size to the United Church St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church did not have the same ease of accessibility, however that issue has now been rectified and the historic Flora St. Church will once again take its turn as host this year. Interestingly the sanctuary at St. Andrew’s (so I was told by a few individuals with an ear for this sort of thing) has the best acoustics of any of the village’s churches and similar sized buildings.

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Thelma Tedford directed that very first carol sing and after a further ten years of dutiful service, she retired as director. A local teacher Ron Scott took on the duties of the position to gather and organize the choir each year. Ron filled the position faithfully for over 25 years, before stepping back to allow the new leadership to take the reins. The choir is a family tradition for the Scott’s as Ron’s daughter Kirsten Walsh can be found behind the piano.

The number of members has fluctuated substantially over the years; however the choir’s structure has now expanded to included not only members from the community, but additional singers from the Norwood and Havelock communities as well.

The choir itself was formed under the direction of the town council to celebrate the centennial of the village of Norwood. The choir continues to provide a welcome holiday musical interlude to the community each year, however in an odd twist of fate its original purpose has in a way, not survived; technically the village of Norwood no longer exists as it was re-incorporated into Asphodel Township on January 1, 1998 to become the Municipality of Asphodel Norwood.

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Journey to Bethlehem

The Norwood Pentecostal Church is hosting their annual Journey to Bethlehem on Saturday, December 20 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the County Rd. 40 church. This unique outside event celebrates the true meaning of Christmas with a live telling of the Christmas story. Guests make the Journey to Bethlehem thorough a series of buildings where they meet various live characters and animals to eventually find themselves at a lowly stable. Afterwards visitors are invited to enjoy hot chocolate and homemade goodies inside the church. A memorable time for all ages, admission is free to everyone. Call the church at 705-639-2187 for more information

Christmas Dinner

Christmas is meant to be shared. There will be a free turkey dinner with all the trimmings at the Norwood Town Hall, 2357 County Rd. 45 on Christmas Day, doors open at 1 p.m. with entertainment provided by the talented Nephton Ridge Runners, Dinner is served from 2 to 3 p.m. The local churches, businesses, organizations and individuals have come together to host this Christmas Day tradition. No one should be alone on Christmas or for that matter if you simply do not want to cook you are invited to come out and enjoy a holiday meal amongst friends and neighbours, you will find good food, warm company, and a community that cares.. For more information or to volunteer or to make a donation please call Mary at 705-639-8956 or Rolf at 705-875-8018.

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