Christmas may still be months away, but at NBCC St. Andrews, the holiday season has been top of mind all semester after building two new wooden cabins.
As students grin inside the handcrafted structure, instructors Eugene Gowan, Brent Dunn, and Chris Hartford stand in the rain at the edges of the photo, letting their students take centre stage. For them, it is a proud moment.
For the past three years, the Saint Andrews Christmas Committee has partnered with NBCC Saint Andrews to build the cabins and market stands that have become the hallmark of Christmas Fest in Market Square.
When organizers launched the festival in 2022, the volunteer committee approached NBCC hoping students could help build a festive structure for the event. What they received exceeded expectations: a giant red Christmas cabin that quickly became the focal point of the festival.
A second followed the next year. This year, students built two more—timber cabins worthy of a European Christmas market—with plans for additional structures already underway for the fall.
“We wanted to do something community-driven to give back,” Chris Hartford, skilled trade techniques instructor at NBCC Saint Andrews, said.
“Community service is built into our curriculum, and this capstone project builds on that. Students come here from all over the globe, so to give back to the place they are now living allows them to really become a part of the community.”
Hartford said the project is made possible through a collaborative effort, with local suppliers donating materials and the Christmas committee contributing modest funding toward remaining costs.
“We are a volunteer committee with a limited budget, so to have these incredible students help us make our small-town Christmas festival even more magical is extraordinary,” said Katy MacDonald of the SaintAndrews Christmas Committee. “We are incredibly grateful for their ongoing support, hard work, and community spirit.”
Held each December in Market Square, Christmas Fest features free visits with Santa, games, contests, outdoor fires, hot chocolate and cider, and crowd-favourite dog costume, ugly sweater, and figgy pudding eating contests.
The fourth annual Christmas Fest will take place Dec. 12 beginning at noon.
