Winnipeg Christmas: A look at Canada Life’s Three Wise Men statues [Video]

WINNIPEG –

 A sign of the jolliest time of year is once again making its appearance near downtown Winnipeg, signalling the start of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

For more than 50 years, statues of the Three Wise Men riding camels are hoisted on top of the Canada Life building on Osborne Street.

The long-standing holiday tradition started in 1973 when the company, formerly known as Great-West Life Assurance Co., first displayed the more than four-metre-tall statues.

Brenda Uzelmann remembers her family driving past on their way to church when she was a child, once glimpsing crews assembling the camels and three men.

“They’re beautiful statues. The family that I was raised in, that was Christmas for us, was this celebration of the birth of Christ,” said Uzelmann. “It was big for our family.”

In the years since, Uzelmann has left Winnipeg and come back and says nothing compares …