The event’s 27th year showcased a mix of local and guest talent from student a capella singers, to ballet performances and Santa Claus
Avi Lapchick EBS CONTRIBUTOR
Though ‘twas 12 nights before Christmas, nearly 1,000 people stirred about the 27th-annual Big Sky Christmas Stroll from Friday to Sunday, Dec. 13-15. The Big Sky event potentially saw its highest turnout yet, according to attendees and the stroll’s organizer, Erik Morrison.
Before Morrison took the reins on the annual event in 2015, the stroll was a fraction of its current size.
“[Town Center] was Fire Pit Park and a few businesses right along that area,” Morrison recounted. “It was a smaller, much more intimate kind of experience.”
However, Morrison and his team soon expanded to Meadow Village to pay homage to the foundational beginning of the stroll and ensure the tradition was preserved. According to him, this move, in conjunction with the steady-growing population of Big Sky, propelled the weekend-long event’s swift growth as the local household tradition many Big Sky residents now consider it to be.
Additionally, the growth in attendance meant Morrison’s team would need to diversify their talent pool to keep the crowd entertained from all angles. One of the stroll’s most recent expansions includes the vocal talent of Lone Peak High School’s A Capella group, directed by John Zirkle.
Though LPHS seniors Frieda Fabozzi and Anna Masonic have participated in the group since they were freshmen and juniors respectively, this was only their second year singing in the annual stroll. Preceding them were the Dickens Carolers.
For Masonic, the group’s inclusion in this year’s stroll made her feel appreciated as a younger member of the Big Sky community.
“The fact that [the Christmas Stroll] included us — we get to sing at a lot of community events — is really special,” Masonic said.
Another addition to this year’s stroll is the Montana Ballet Company’s production of “The Nutcracker,” set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic score. The company’s Academy Director Melissa Bowman, shared that while this is not the first time the MBC has performed as part of the annual stroll, it’s the first time the company has been included in the lineup since Bowman started working there three years ago.
Bowman said that receiving the news of their participation in the stroll this past fall was an exciting moment for her and the cast.
“We love performing ‘The Nutcracker’ [and] taking it to new audiences. It’s just a wonderful experience for everybody,” Bowman said.
As the company’s most performed show — estimated to be viewed locally by about 9,000 people this month alone — the opportunity to perform the beloved holiday ballet is one the dancers have been eagerly awaiting since their first practice earlier this year.
“[The cast] is just excited to get on stage and perform,” Bowman said.
Though new talent is added to the event’s lineup every year, in the spirit of tradition the stroll likewise boasts its longstanding talent: namely, Santa Claus.
Morrison said the stroll included multiple Santas in previous years but was quickly amended to include only one following complaints from concerned parents with confused children. The process of elimination, however, was albeit competitive.
“I mean, everyone wants [to be] Santa,” Morrison said. “There’s no question — Santa is the star of the show.”
Eventually, Morrison and his team chose to bestow the coveted role upon the stroll’s most senior Santa who has worked with the event for nearly two decades. But, if you asked the man himself, he would say he’s been here for millions of years.
Santa, whose only condition for playing the role according to Morrison was to keep his real identity a secret, spoke with Explore Big Sky in character.
“I’ve been working my whole life to become this size. People think it’s easy to be a big Santa — you have to keep busy at it,” the patron saint of Christmas said when asked about the process of becoming Santa, concluding his answer with a staunch “Ho ho ho.”
Besides indulging in milk and cookies and making the dreams of local children come true, Santa shared that his favorite parts of the stroll were his grand entrance on the Big Sky Fire Department’s firetruck and the firework show, presented by Zaremba Potts Group and Big Sky Ski Education Foundation.
“This is one of the most special places Santa could ever be,” Santa said of Big Sky. After a pause, he continued: “Because Santa loves to snowboard so much.”
