It’s a Diamond Valley Christmas.
When those words were sung by Black Diamond-area musician Brent McAthey over 20 years ago, he didn’t know how true they would become.
Diamond Valley Christmas was written as the finale to annual Christmas concerts held in Black Diamond, beginning in the late 1990s and running for four or five years, he said.
McAthey never thought the names of the two towns would change, or that they would amalgamate to become Diamond Valley. He simply wanted to include both Black Diamond and Turner Valley in the song.
“It just kind of worked out,” he said. “I wrote it 24 years ago, and it’s finally come to fruition.
“Now that it has the same title as the two towns together, I kind of hope that there's a musical bond there."
The Christmas concerts were held over two nights at Oilfields High School to raise money for the food bank, and the concerts were a hit in the community. They would sell out almost immediately, he said.
“It became so popular, they’d sell the tickets at the Flare ‘n Derrick at like 10 o'clock in the morning, and people were lined up at 20 below weather and they'd sell that thing out in like an hour,” he said.
About 400 people each night would crowd into the gym at Oilfields High School to hear the concerts that featured McAthey and other local musicians like Ian Tyson, Amos Garrett, Dwain Sands and others.
“We put on a big production, and there were so many musicians who lived there at the time,” he said.
“It was a real community effort that is for sure, you know, from the musicians, putting in their time and talents to the people supporting it coming out to the show.”
Coming up to amalgamation, McAthey gave permission to Black Diamond and Turner Valley to use the song, and hopes it helps unite the two communities as they come together as Diamond Valley on Jan. 1.
The two towns are in it together now, he said.
“Let's take the positive of it and feel good about it,” he said.
Diamond Valley Christmas is available on YouTube here.
