Worldwide candle lighting at Paddlewheel Park Hall Sunday, Dec. 10. (image credit: Compassionate Friends)

By Pete McIntyre

Dec. 10

Candle lighting in Vernon part of world-wide event

Dec 9, 2023 | 2:30 PM

North Okanagan residents are invited to an event to remember and honour loved ones.

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting will be held Sunday, Dec. 10 at Paddlewheel Park Hall.

Organizers say the event will unite family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon.

“Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting (WCL), a gift to the bereavement community from The Compassionate Friends, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone,” a news release from the organization stated.

WCL started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance and has since grown as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held, and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes, as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died and will never be forgotten.

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The Vernon-based Emily Dahl Foundation (EDF) is a proud supporter of Vernon Compassionate Friends.

“We encourage others to come join us on Sunday. It is a lovely event right here in Vernon,” Katie Dahl of the EDF said.

The doors at the hall at 7801 Okanagan Landing Road will open at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 with the memorial at 6:15 p.m.

See the image below for more information.

Worldwide candle lightning Dec. 10 at Paddlewheel Park Hall. (Image credit: Compassionate Friends)