Winter Fest celebrations but days away

The Holiday Season gets its official kick off this Friday evening as Prince Rupert's 19th Annual Winterfest gets underway, with two days and evenings of events to put everyone in the festive mood.

A few of the highlights for the 48 hours of Winterfest can be found below.

Friday gets underway with a number of items in the morning and afternoon, including a celebration of Northern BC Artists, the Children's Tree Decorating Contest and Gingerbread Decorating contest.

Friday evening brings the much anticipated Festival of Lights as the city comes alive with Christmas lights, with the Prince Rupert Court House once again the focus of much of the community's attention as they power up the large number of lights that have been affixed to the trees of the Court House lawn.

The Festival of Lights gets under way at 6:30 PM.

Saturday starts off early with Photos with Santa, the North Coast Artists' Cooperative and a Craft and Gift Fair all before 10 AM.

The Santa Claus Parade makes its journey downtown starting at 11 AM, with hot chocolate available following the parade.

There's a Free Skate courtesy of Telus at 12:30 at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre rink, Children's story time at 2 PM and a 2 PM Free Swim at the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre.

The Wheelhouse Chili Cook Off takes place at 5 PM at the Wheelhouse

Followed by the 6:30 Sailpast and 33rd edition of the Christmas Carol Boats

Fireworks follow the Sailpast at 8:15 PM

As well, the Prince Rupert Rampage take to the ice with a home game with the Smithers Steelheads, the Winterfest match up has a puck drop of 8 PM.

You can review the full schedule of events below:

Winterfest Schedule of Events for December 5 & 6

More details on the growing list of events can be found on the Prince Rupert Special Events website or Facebook page.

You can also get updates on the weekend events from the Special Events Society twitter feed.