Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
BRISTOL Dec. 8 – 17, 2017
Coronation Hall was all decked out for the Christmas season from Dec. 8 through the 17th, in an effort to support local businesses and remind guests to shop at home.
The first Deck the Halls event took over the Coronation Hall Cider Mill that week, filling the outskirts with Christmas trees and displays of all kinds, produced by a variety of businesses across the Pontiac.
“I had seen it at a place in Ontario, a pioneer village,” said Norma Graham, one of the hall’s owners. “I really liked the idea, so I took aspects of it to make it apply for here.”

Featuring over 20 vendors, everyone was able to design their spot as they pleased, with some including Christmas trees or gingerbread houses, or others showing off a variety of holiday gift ideas.
“There was no cost to the kiosks, we wanted to showcase what they had to encourage people to shop local,” said Graham.
But it wasn’t just businesses that were supported through this initiative, but local churches and schools, too. The only catch for participating was choosing a prize to include as a part of a draw for each business, where guests could purchase tickets and drop them into the kiosk of their choice.
However, the event wasn’t just about drumming up local support, there was one, large aspect to the hall that the owners wanted to show off.
“The other reason we chose to host this was that we have this tree that’s decorated, with over 750 lights,” said Graham.
Standing enormous out front, welcoming all guests, is their 45 ft. coniferous tree, which is a great welcome at day, but a better marvel at night.
The only thing playing against their event this year was the weather – it was brutally cold most days, but the owners said they still had a great turnout.
This was a sentiment also expressed by one of the hall’s employees, Holly Campbell.
“People haven’t let the weather stop them from coming out, they still liked to come see the lovely displays,” said Campbell.
The most popular display had to be the one from the Villa James Shaw, which included a memory tree where guests could fill out a tag with a lost loved one they’re remembering this season and hang it on the tree. It did cost a few dollars to add a memory tag, but all of the proceeds were going straight to the organization, which is working to provide a seniors’ residence for the aging population in Shawville.
“The memory tree has been very successful,” said Graham. “Christmas should be a time to plan ahead while thinking of the past, and I think this was a great initiative to do so.”
The support from the businesses and guests has been greatly encouraging to Graham and her family, so she said they were definitely going to do it again next year.
“I’m going to talk to all the people to see what we can do to build upon it,” said Graham. “We did appreciate all the businesses that took the time to support this.”