The Origin Story
How the Holiday Light Up Tour Began
Anastasia's farm stand on Old Scott Road, 2019 — the photo that started it all
I recently got an email from Anastasia Williams who wanted to know if I'd be interested in the "origin story" of the Holiday Farm Stand Light Up Tour. Heck, yeah, I said — let's make sure we memorialize the start of this great Island tradition and share it for posterity.
Anastasia owns a farm stand on Old Scott Road and most seasons she takes the time to have fun and decorate her farm stand for the neighbours to enjoy. She sells produce during the summer season.
Anastasia is also a Community Health Services nurse and for many years she and her colleagues cared for a gentleman here on island named Rann Emerson.
In Anastasia's words, Rann was an incredibly generous and kind man. He was house-bound and spent his days carving whimsical, beautiful folk figures — and would give hundreds of them away every Christmas. There are many, many people on Salt Spring that are lucky enough to have a few. Anastasia is one of those fortunate ones.
In 2019, Anastasia had decorated her small farm stand with her collection of Rann's works and produced a lovely photo of them. She shared that photo with Rann one day and he was thrilled to see it. Rann passed away in 2020 while the world was gripped by isolation from Covid restrictions.
Anastasia had the idea of making cards from her photo and selling them, with all the proceeds going to the Lions Hall in Rann's name — with permission from his daughter. As Covid restrictions crawled through the year toward Christmas, she was sharing "isolation coping" ideas with a coworker. They thought of Islanders decorating and lighting up their farm stands so people could drive around the island with friends and loved ones and marvel at the lights!
Anastasia put the idea on the Facebook Farm Stands page and Tali Hamel approached her about making it a reality. The Light Up Tour was a hit. The Driftwood and The Fishbowl generously donated their advertising, and the Driftwood covered the story: Decorated farm stands set to add cheer →
All the organizing was done off the side of Anastasia's and Tali's desks. Last year she passed the torch to Dan Perry as it was more than she could manage. While she doesn't have anything for sale at her stand this time of year, she will still "light it up"!
So thank you to the founders of the Salt Spring Island Holiday Farm Stand Light Up Tour — and may the tradition continue long into the future! 🎄