Vancouver is officialy a Winter Wonderland today! As in “I wonder why I didn’t put my winter tires on already!” While the snowflakes fall, let’s check out “Red’s Animated Advent Calendar”, a seasonal salute to the Christmas songs we grew up with.

In the late 1940s Vancouver South (south of 41st Avenue between Cambie and Knight) had almost no recreation facilities. The Sunset Association reached out to Bing Crosby to stage his radio show in Vancouver as a benefit for the construction of a new community centre.

On September 22, 1948 the Bing Crosby radio show came to Vancouver and raised over $30,000 — an all-time record for the City Of Vancouver. The city contributed the remaining amount and Sunset Community Centre was built. They called the building “the house Bing built” and featured a full wall photographic blow-up of Bing aboard a bulldozer, plowing up the dirt for the building. Bing also officially opened the premises.

Here’s Bing Crosby, bringing joy to a down in the dumps town with his trusty Bing-O-Matic™ in “Winter Wonderland”, created by our friends at Fantoons Animation Studios for Universal Music Group.