Carolling brothers spread Christmas cheer in Mill Woods
As snow plows and graders are clearing city streets, a two-wheeled cart is bringing holiday cheer to residents of a southeast Edmonton neighbourhood.
The Caroling Cart, two brothers who love to sing Christmas carols, are performing free concerts to people in Mill Woods for the second year.
It started with a Facebook post last year asking if they could sing for people outside their homes on Christmas Eve.
The response was huge and they gave free concerts in front of more than 120 homes over six days. The brothers say they wanted to help anyone feeling isolated due to the pandemic.
"We just love sharing music with people and our family tradition is to basically sing music," said Andrew Blimke. "We sit in the living room and just share that, and since we were not able to do that last year we thought we will share it with basically the community."
Blimke says the concerts are being scaled back this year because of the cold weather, but he says they still expect to sing at about 50 houses in eight Mill Woods neighbourhoods.
"Even if we didn't make it out to people's places themselves, they saw that there was somebody driving around, visiting people and they felt more connected."
Residents say they were eager to greet the carollers, and feel very lucky to have the brothers spreading some Christmas cheer.
"When I was a kid, that was about 100 years ago, it was a common thing," said Marty Lalonde. "Now it's incredibly rare, especially with COVID on. But to have them come by like this, it's something to lift everybody's spirits."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Federal government grants B.C.'s request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces
The federal government is granting British Columbia's request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces, nearly two weeks after the province asked to end its pilot project early over concerns of public drug use.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
MPs agree Canadian gov't should improve new disability benefit
The federal government needs to safeguard the incoming Canada Disability Benefit from clawbacks and do more to ensure it actually meets the stated aim of lifting people living with disabilities out of poverty, MPs from all parties agree.
King Charles too busy to see son Prince Harry during U.K. trip
Prince Harry will not be seeing his father King Charles during his current visit to Britain as the monarch will be too busy, Harry's spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Boy Scouts of America changing name for first time in 114 years, aiming for inclusivity
The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.
opinion Tom Mulcair: Trudeau's handling of Poilievre's 'wacko' House turfing a clear sign of Liberal desperation
When Speaker Greg Fergus tossed out Pierre Poilievre from the House last week, "those of us who have experience as parliamentarians simply couldn't believe our eyes," writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his column for CTVNews.ca
Security guard shot, seriously injured outside of Drake's Toronto mansion
A security guard working at Drake’s Bridle Path mansion in Toronto was seriously injured in a shooting outside the residence early Tuesday morning, police said.
Katy Perry's mom was fooled by AI images of the singer at the Met Gala
Katy Perry did not attend the Met Gala on Monday, but some of the singer’s fans – and even her mom – thought she did.