Don’t look for garden seeds and rose plants when you go to the St. Albert Botanic Park’s Christmas in October sale. Instead, for this one week only, the gift shop will be a celebration of Christmas and will have an unusual, inside-the-home appeal that is purely seasonal, even if it is in October.
This is the third year for the Christmas in October sale, and while the merchandise has very little to do with gardening, it is about fundraising and the gift shop is completely run by volunteers on behalf of the St. Albert Botanic Park.
“We estimate we have 12,000 visitors to the park every summer and a good deal of those come into the gift shop,” said gift shop volunteer Diane Goodall.
“Not only do we raise funds for the park by operating the shop, we also act as ambassadors to the park because people stop in to ask questions or to get information.”
The shop came into being four years ago after the John Beedle Centre was opened and the former garage became available.
“Moira Mason was the inspiration behind the gift shop,” said Goodall as she and Mason worked together last week to complete some Christmassy floral arrangements and to set up the shop.
Before retiring, Mason owned a gift shop/floral store and her knowledge of colour and organization came in handy at the park gift shop, where everything is designed to please the eye. Though the shop is only open from May until September, it became so popular that park board members asked if they could expand its operations.
“Once we opened the gift shop, people asked if we were going to have a Christmas sale, so we had to expand it,” Mason said.
For the Christmas sale, everything is arranged so visitors are greeted by a panoramic blending of colour that moves from gold, to silver to red and green.
It’s the kind of shop where visitors find themselves constantly pointing and exclaiming, “Oh look at that” because there are so many cute novelties from snow globes to specialty collector items such as a St. Nicholas dressed in furs. For those who like funny knick-knacks, there are moose dressed in Irish knit sweaters.
“The gift shop is totally run by volunteers, except that we do have a summer student who has other duties as well as looking after the gift shop. But in the evening hours, it’s all volunteers,” Goodall said.
Though final figures for the entire operation of the gift shop are not complete yet, Goodall estimated that including the summer sales and the one-week sale in October, the gift shop brings in $20,000 to help with park operations.
During the Christmas in October sale, from Oct. 19 to Oct. 26, the St. Albert Botanic Park gift shop will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shop is located on Sturgeon Road near its intersection with Woodlands Road.
