THOUSANDS of people are expected to jingle all the way to The Rail on Sunday for the annual Blue Lake Christmas Carols.
A Christmas tradition for many families, last year’s event attracted almost 5000 people and transformed the sprawling Mount Gambier Railway Lands into a sea of red Santa hats and glittering candlelight.
Long-serving event coordinator Graham Gill and musical director Jeannie Gryn decided to hang up their Santa hats for good after last year’s event and new committee leaders brimming with Christmas Spirit have picked up where they left off.
Rudy Furlong and Hannah Morrison have taken on the roles of event coordinator and musical director respectively and will focus on community participation.
“I have been involved for about seven years and I helped transition the carols from the Cave Gardens to The Rail,” Mr Furlong said.
“The Cave Gardens housed about 3000 people and now we have between 5000 and 8000 people.
“This is Hannah’s first year as musical director and we are really excited about some of her concepts and innovative ideas.”
Ms Morrison has also been involved in the event for several years as a musician.
“This year we are trying to bring the carols back to the community and encourage more community participation,” she said.
“We want people singing in the audience and spreading the joy.
“To help facilitate that, we have a couple of new innovations – we will have a choir as the backing vocals and groups of carol singers out in the audience.
“Four groups of people who have been to rehearsals will be spread among the crowd, so no matter where you are sitting you will be close to someone who is singing.”
The community carol singers will be easily identifiable in their blue and white Christmas hats.
This year’s lineup of artists will include Jordanna Jones, Phoenix Choir, Lizzie Coke, Ben Hood, Tamara Seeley, Ellyana Sims and Lily Fulwood.
“Danny and Simon, our emcees, will perform a song for the first time and we will celebrate Scott Maxwell’s ARIA win with a special performance,” Ms Morrison said.
“We have picked carols that everybody knows and we will play them in keys everyone can sing along to.”
