Fall is upon us, and while Hallowe’en is the next seasonal festivity, it’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas — Christmas fruit cakes, that is. By selling traditional Christmas fruit cakes, the Columbia Valley Chamber Music Festival is fundraising to establish a bursary fund for the music students at David Thompson Secondary School.

The cakes come two in a box — one light with almond paste icing and one dark with pecans — and cost $15 per box. DTSS students will be selling the cakes to family and friends, and from each sale, the Columbia Valley Chamber Music Festival will receive $4. If the high school is able to sell 125 boxes, then DTSS will be able to reward a $500 bursary to a deserving student in June.

“So if they don’t make the 125, then the sales from outside in the community will go to make up the 125,” said CV Chamber Festival Committee member and Christmas Cake fundraiser organizer Geraldine Gibson.

Additional cakes sold in the community will also help fund the chamber music festival concert and educational activities next July, while all funds raised by DTSS beyond the $500 from 125 boxes will be reserved in a CV Music Festival account for the following year.

To pre-order the Christmas cakes, call or fax Gibson at 250-342-3097 or The Valley Echo at 250-342-9216 or come in to The Valley Echo building at 530-13th Street in Invermere to register in person. Orders will be taken from October 3 through to October 31 with payments due by November 7. Cakes should be ready for pickup by the last week in November.

“If any of the businesses want to jump on board, the services clubs, the churches, fire departments, hospital, if they can get a contact person in that organization, then they can phone me and I’ll send them a signup form,” said Gibson. “The more the merrier.”