1 / 1 Christmas at the Fair 2024 takes place Dec. 13 to the 23rd at the Fall Fair grounds in Barriere. Seen here is Donna Kibble with her Christmas Village display in the Fall Fair Hall on Dec. 13.Hettie Buck / Black Press Media Advertisement
The North Thompson Valley has been home to Donna Kibble for many years, and as a District of Barriere councillor, history buff and long-time member of the North Thompson Heritage Society, she is a friend to many in the valley.
Kibble has volunteered and served her community in a variety of ways, having a special devotion to bringing joy to the lives of children and families in the area especially with her incredible Christmas Village that she has lovingly cared for and added to over the years.
This year during the 2024 Christmas at the Fair, an event where the North Thompson Fall Fair grounds are transformed into an enchanting show of lights for the festive season, Kibble has the huge village set up the Fall Fair Hall just inside the rodeo entrance.
The village is a magical scene, with lights sparkling, movement and sound. There is a part of the village that is a fair with a moving carousel, Ferris wheel, teacup rides and more as the rides play Christmas tunes while you watch. A little train can be seen going back and forth, likely carrying shoppers to and from the old-fashioned storefronts where lights inside welcome you in.
Kibble smiles fondly talking about the village and how it's grown, "It takes up a spare room in my home now, with everything organized in boxes until the holidays roll round. Last year I bought another village from a lady in Clearwater so it's even larger this year," she said, "I just keeping adding to the collection."
During the visit she is positioned at a table by the door loaded with little figurines, animals and mini accessories and points to more boxes holding the same underneath the table, "The first thing parents say to the kids when they come in to visit the village is "don't touch" and I realized I had to do something about that. So, when they come in, I tell them to choose something off the table and place it wherever they would like in the village. The parents even get into this and do the same when they realize the children are very careful and thoughtful about where they place 'their' addition into the village. Nothing has ever been damaged. Well except once when the figure a little guy had broke and he was devastated. I reassured him saying I had my glue gun, and I grabbed a small cow from the box and glued the figure of the man right onto the cow and told him how great that was that it broke because now we had this man riding the cow and we both laughed!"
Kibble has been dealing with some unexpected health issues over the past year and feels the village has been what she calls "a great distraction and joy" to take her mind off some upcoming surgeries in the near future. Putting a call out to the community on social media in the week leading up the Christmas at the Fair resulted in volunteers rolling up their sleeves to help her set up the complex display along with a fellow collector, Craig Spink, adding his electric trainset to the room.
"Some kids like to take a dinosaur for their addition to the village and hide it in amongst the old-fashioned village scenes to see if people can find the dinosaur which has become kind of a game over the years. It's all about fun and bringing the Christmas spirit to everyone, that is why I love doing this," said Kibble as she greets the first little girl, Nora Arcand, to visit the village who walks slowly round and round the table, changing her mind a few times before choosing the spot for her figure.
Eye full of wonder, she walks back to talk with Kibble telling her, "We have a small village at home and added some more things to it. It's not big like this though."
As others begin to enter Kibble can be heard telling Nora, "Well maybe one day your collection will grow just like this one did. It's so much fun to watch people smile when they see it."