Christmas tradition coming back to Harvey as Carols by Candlelight returns

A Christmas tradition is making its return to Harvey as a community institution opens its doors for the festive season.

Harvey’s Church of Christ is welcoming the community to sing along with their Carols by Candlelight on Sunday as they look to bring back the treasured event.

The church will open its doors at 6pm with a free sausage sizzle and drinks available to all before settling in for the carols at 7.30pm in the courtyard outside.

Church of Christ member Don Marshall said he was excited to be bringing the event back to the community.

“This is just a way of giving back to the community,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people in the community that struggle and there’s also a lot of people in the community that do a lot of stuff for everyone, so we want to give back to them all.”

He said the event first came to town about 14 years ago and ran successfully for 10 years, but like many community events, was put on hiatus during the COVID years.

Mr Marshall said it was a spontaneous decision from the church’s committee to bring the event back knowing how much it meant to many in the community.

“We’re doing our best not to make it a performance, because we want everyone to be involved and allow them to sing,” he said.

“People know it’s Christmas and want to experience the joy of Christmas, which you can do in many different ways, and this is just one way we can provide an avenue for people to experience a little bit of joy over this very busy time of year.”

Fellow church member Kristi Crognale said a host of talented local musicians would be singing and playing at the event as well as a children’s choir.

She said they had also invited all the members of the now-disbanded community choir to the event.

Frances Stanford from the church said the response from the community had been positive.

“People have started to see the ads going around town and are excited,” she said.

“I didn’t realise it was gone for such a long time, but the community are enthusiastic and looking forward to having it back.”