Hundreds of people filled the Steinbach Mennonite Church Tuesday evening for the annual Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Holiday Pops concert hosted by the Steinbach Arts Council.

Cindy Rempel Patrick is the Chief Creative Officer at the arts council. She notes for many residents of the Southeast, going to the annual WSO concert is one of their Christmas traditions.

"It was like one big family gathering with everyone from the community. There were over 700 people there, we had the Steinbach Youth Chorus, we had Fran Funk doing the narration, we had Finely Hiebert conducting the orchestra. We all get to sing together, our favourite Christmas carols, there is no better feeling and it puts you in the Christmas spirit."

Rempel Patrick says 10-year-old Finley Hiebert stole the show as this year’s guest conductor.

"Finley Hiebert brought it over the top yesterday. He commanded that stage. In fact, I watched the musicians and they just wanted to watch Finley and they were just so entertained and so inspired by him. He was so excited to be up there, he wanted to play that music and I tell you, he did an amazing job."

In addition to the amazing symphony, the crowd enjoyed a performance by the Steinbach Youth Chorus and some visual art.

"Arlene Enns, she is a visual artist and she painted live through the whole event. As the orchestra was playing, they inspired her to create this masterpiece. It is the most beautiful winter scene that she created last night. We love to bring different components of the community into the symphony, we partner with them and then it just becomes a show that everybody can be a part of."

According to Rempel Patrick, the WSO Holiday Pops Concert is always their largest event of the year. With the WSO being such a prestigious group, she says their fee is quite high, however, they sell enough tickets every year to break even which makes it a big success. She says most of their concert series is subsidized by the fundraising that they do or through grant money.