In 1987, Thor Froslev fell ill just before the holidays and phoned local musician Carol Grolman desperate for help with entertainment for the Brackendale Art Gallery's (BAG) annual Christmas Pot Luck event.
"He said, 'Carol, I can't do it this year. Can you do it?'" Grolman recalled. "I said, 'No,' and he said, 'Yes,' and I said, 'No,' and he said, 'Yes,' and you know who won out."
That first year, Grolman and other members of the Squamish Folk Song Circle performed in a format similar to what has become known and loved as Carol's Carols - some solos, some duets, some instrumentals, some sing-alongs.
"That first year that we did it, I remember Thor had a Christmas tree set up and the gifts that people brought were just overwhelming," she said. "It was under the tree and spilling out all around. In those days Carol's Carols was about the only event where you could contribute to Community Christmas Care."
On Sunday, Dec. 2, Grolman will host the 25th edition of a Squamish tradition at the Squamish United Church. In the late 1990s, Carol's Carols moved from the BAG to the church after the BAG added a full sound system complete with sound board.
"I'm not a techie. We moved to the church where we had microphones and a sound system all set up," she said.
There have been many memorable moments along the way. One year the event was planned at the BAG and it snowed in the two days leading up to the event.
"I got a lot of phone calls saying, 'Sorry, I can't perform tonight,' because they couldn't get there. I went up to Thor and said, 'Well, we can just keep it acoustic tonight, because I don't think we'll have that many people show up. Lo and behold, it was packed -people just walked to the event."
Some of Squamish's most talented musicians have performed at what has become known as the unofficial kickoff to the Christmas season in Squamish - always the first weekend of December.
The year 1993 marked the first time Grolman performed her own Christmas composition, "Do We Really Believe?"
"That got a lot of good accolades almost immediately, and has become a tradition," she said. "One year I decided to leave it out and at the end of the show people started saying, where's 'Do We Really Believe?'? For a person who composed a song, that was very, very cool."
Grolman and friends perform at the 25th Anniversary concert of Carol's Carols on Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Squamish United Church, 38014 Fourth Ave. Admission is by cash donation, with all proceeds to Community Christmas Care.
