This sure beats shopping on Boxing Day

KELOWNA – Just as some stores were opening today, skaters were already out at the Stuart Park skating rink, beating the crowds in the stores and on the ice.

“We used to go shopping on Boxing Day, a few years ago,” Neven Aksic said. “It’s a lot nicer here.”

Aksic was out with his seven-year-old daughter, Sofia, to get some space on the ice for themselves. They were down on Christmas Day when people could barely move because it was so crowded on the popular ice sheet.

The traditional Boxing Day shopping blowout has been replaced, to a large part, by Black Friday pre-Christmas shopping and on-line.

Aksic did actually do the early morning lining up for Black Friday once, but swears to never do it again.

Being from Calgary, he and Sofia were revelling in the warm temperatures in Kelowna – the first time they’ve been on the ice since skating on the Kelowna rink at Christmas a year or two ago.

“I wish my wife and other kid were here,” was Aksic’s only regret.

For those who relish the friendliness of Christmas but may not want to skate, there are free hugs at noon today at the nearby Sails, at the foot of Bernard Avenue.

This is an annual event hosted by Angie Clowry and Terry Cobb in honour of Wayne Cobb who “died tragically in a motorcycle accident, while saving his son’s life,” according to a Facebook events page posting.

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