Community to rally around church

THE Snake Valley community will be coming together this Saturday to celebrate the festive season with their annual event Carols in the Valley.

It will be led by local artists with food trucks, games, market stalls, hampers and a visit from Santa on offer.

Carols will begin at 4pm, hosted by Kane Hansen, with the picnic to kick off at 6pm and Santa to arrive around 7pm.

“It has been an annual event in Snake Valley for a number of years and this year we’ve ramped it up a bit with local singers who will be leading the community in singing carols inside our historical building,” said Elissa Callahan, leader of the events committee.

“Then we will have a picnic dinner where people can bring their picnic or order a gourmet hamper.

“We’ll also have food trucks and the obligatory sausage sizzle.”

The event is a fundraiser to help keep the building from being sold after the Uniting Church signalled this may happen earlier this year.

Since then, the community has rallied around the meeting place to ensure congregation numbers are strong.

“It’s about coming together as a community and embracing our wider community from surrounding districts,” said Ms Callahan.

“We have quite a significant congregation now and we hope from this we are able to provide and fun family event for the congregation.

“We also want to start to engage people with the building as it belongs to the congregation and we want it to be accessible to the people of Snake Valley.”