Usually at this time of year the Park Meadows Estates courtyard is filled with elaborate Christmas decorations. That won't happen this year. (CHAT News Photo/Colton McKee)

By Chris Brown

A seasonal favourite

Park Meadows Estates turning down the lights this year

Nov 30, 2020 | 2:31 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Park Meadows Estates will be a little dimmer in 2020 than in past years.

A stroll through the brightly lit and beautifully decorated courtyard of the Medicine Hat community is a popular tradition for many in the city that stretches back more than 20 years.

The area will not be decorated this year.

Park Meadows Estates light committee member Brian Johnston says they’ve been fielding calls from people they know to stop by every year and others they’ve never met. The decision to not do the display this year came down to safety.

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“They’re disappointed and we can understand that but we just don’t want to get in the position that somebody catches something,” he says. “And we’ve got no crowd control ’cause we don’t stick around here at night, they’re on their own.”

Fellow committee member Ivan Ulriksen says there are often hundreds of people walking through the courtyard. They start to filter in as soon as it gets dark and keep coming until the lights are shut off around 10:30 each night.

Not lighting up the courtyard will also take a bite out of the Medicine Hat and District Food Bank’s Brown Bag Lunch.

Last year about $8,100 and close to 300 pounds of food was collected.

Many of the residents in Park Meadows Estates have decorated the outside of their houses, and Hatters are welcome to drive through the community to view them.