The Vintage Village of Lights at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum is one of the highlights of our holiday plans every year. I was so sad to think that this year we would be missing one of our favourite Christmas activities! Lucky for us, the museum pulled out all the stops to create a beautiful drive-through experience and my family got a chance to check it out this past weekend.

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We pulled up to the front gates where we were greeted by staff in a booth, and handed a lovely little booklet with a map, Christmas activities, trivia and fun historical facts. The directions were very clear, and there were places marked where you could stop along the route to take pictures. The speed limit is 10 km/hr, so there’s plenty of time to see everything you want to see. We were (obviously) asked NOT to get out of our vehicles while driving through.

The staff has gone to an immense amount of work to turn the village into a beautiful Christmas wonderland! If you haven’t visited the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum before, it showcases life in the 1920s and 30s, with dozens of heritage and reproduction buildings. There’s a church, homes, a schoolhouse, forge, you name it! This year, the village has been illuminated with over 30,000 lights, colourful vignettes and we even had a distanced view of the big guy from the North Pole.

I’d have to say that the highlight of the experience was a special radio program that you could tune into on your phone while driving through (and we continued listening on our way home as well). The radio program was created specifically for this year’s village of lights, and is produced in the style of the 1920s and 1930s radio programmes. It was so fantastic - the kids loved hearing old ads like they would have been broadcast, recipes, snippets of radio shows and of course, beautiful recordings of Christmas songs.

Another special treat was the delivery of a Santa-gram and gingerbread cookie decorating kit, all done with social distancing protocols in place.

The whole route took about 10-15 minutes, and the kids were slightly disappointed it wasn’t longer. However, we made an entire evening of the experience, by listening to the full 45 minute radio programme and making our gingerbread cookies at home. You have access to the radio show at any time, so it’s not necessary to listen to it while you’re in your car.

In all, it was a really worthwhile experience and I would highly recommend it if you’re looking for something to do with the kiddos this holiday season!

Where: 2940 Old Montreal Road

When: Wednesday to Sunday, between 5pm and 9pm. Runs until December 23rd

Cost: $25 per vehicle*
*Registration is required and tickets can NOT be purchased on site. Visit the website to register: https://ottawa.ca/en/arts-heritage-and-events/museums-and-historic-sites/cumberland-heritage-village-museum

By: Misty Pratt

Disclaimer: I was provided a vehicle pass to attend the Vintage Village of Lights. All thoughts and opinions are my own!