Noon Festival of Carols spreads holiday cheer for 47th year

Lunch time at TCU Place will be filled with sounds of Silent Night and Jingle Bells as the Noon Festival of Carols returns to the convention centre for its 47th year.

The annual festival welcomes school choirs from across Saskatoon to perform during the noon hour from Monday to Thursday over the next two weeks.

Nevin Buehler, a choir director at Mother Teresa School, said it’s always great to give his students a chance to perform outside of a school setting.

“It’s a great way to get the choir out and to get them performing in public where we can have an audience of some family members and other folks from the downtown are to come listen to us during the lunch hour,” he said.

At any given time during the festival’s run, more than 100 people gather in the lobby at TCU Place to hear Christmas carols as family members race to snap precious photos of the young singers.

St. Frances School put their own spin on the festival during their performance.

With a choir made up of 95 per cent Indigenous students, choir director Sandra Urbanoski blended Cree language into traditional carols as a way of extending Indigenous learning beyond the classroom.

“The parents, and the population of the First Nations people that come to the school, really want the culture back,” Urbanoski. “They want their children to be immersed in the culture in a way that it’s not being lost.”

Urbanoski said that decision has been a hit with students.

“I think they really appreciate it and they’re really happy to sing it,” she said. “They’re just overall happy to be in the choir, and that’s an extra bonus.”