This young couple is carrying on a Kelowna holiday tradition

On the corner of Richter Street and Birch Avenue is a household with a long running tradition of decorating a towering oak tree with a multitude of festive décor each year.

However, the owners who started the tradition - Morgan and Kathryn Heaney - have sold their home and moved along.

But they made sure to let the new occupants know about their holiday custom and its importance to the community.

For Molly Corrigan and Devin Smith, the young couple moving in from Ontario, it was definitely a slight surprise when they went to buy the home.

“When we were looking at the house, we found out that it was extremely important to [the previous owners] to set this tree up,” Smith told Kelowna10. “They kind of explained over an email through the realtor that it had been a tradition they’ve been running for 20 years or something like that.”

The couple did a little digging and found several media articles written about the tree, and since the previous occupants left all the decorations behind, they figured it was up to them to keep the tradition alive.

At first, they were worried it may be a large undertaking, but with the help of a group of friends, some drinks, and choice music, they were able to completely decorate the tree in four hours.

“We got some nice notes, some people honking as they drove by when we were decorating,” Corrigan said.

The tree has been a running tradition since 2005, and has always been a fixture that brings the neighbourhood together.

“That’s probably one of the reasons why we’ll keep it going,” Smith explained. “It’s a pretty easy task for us to do and it means a lot to a lot of other people, so why not?”