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Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ 2018 film, A Veteran’s Christmas, is a heartwarming tale about a military veteran with a service dog who finds love in the town of River’s Crossing. Although the movie takes place in Rivers Crossing, it wasn’t filmed in this town. Read on to find out where the movie was filmed.
A Veteran’s Christmas was filmed in Canada. More specifically, it was filmed in Huntsville in September, and some scenes were also filmed in North Bay. Huntsville is located in Ontario. It’s the largest town in the Muskoka Region of Ontario, with a population of a little over 19,000. The town is in hilly terrain, surrounded by many lakes. It’s a beautiful, picturesque town.
A story by MuskokaRegion.com talks about how the whole community was excited about the filming.
Some residents were a little bothered by the American flags that were flying during the filming, which had to replace Canadian flags for authenticity. You can see some of their comments on this Facebook post. But despite this small controversy, most residents loved an opportunity to have Christmas in September.
Tonight’s @hallmarkmovie A Veteran’s Christmas had a little controversy when the Canadian flags were replaced with American flags for filming. 😂 But most people were delighted by Christmas in September. Here’s where it was filmed. :) #AVeteransChristmas
A Veteran’s Christmas had a different working title while filming, before settling on the current title. It was once called Rivers Crossing at Christmas. The synopsis reads: “Captain Grace Garland (Mumford), a decorated U.S. veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When she finds herself stranded in the town of River’s Crossing a couple weeks before Christmas, the local judge, Joe Peterson (Faris), offers her a place to stay on his property and takes it upon himself to show Grace everything she has been missing; Christmas, family, community, and love.”
It was filmed in September, and crews did a great job of transforming the town into a Christmas wonderland.
Here’s another behind-the-scenes look at filming, from the store Christmas Tyne where some filming took place:
Despite a couple residents posting that they were bothered by the American flags, most residents of Huntsville were really excited about the movie and only had positive things to say. One resident told Christmas Tyne: “That shop is definitely made for a hallmark movie. I love Christmas so I love being able to shop for Christmas stuff early.”
If you want to know just where some of the filming tookr place in the town, here’s a map that talks about road closures during the filming.
Here’s another behind-the-scenes pic. Many scenes were filmed on Main Street.
The Hallmark movie that’s been shooting in Huntsville the past couple weeks is A VETERAN’S CHRISTMAS, starring @eloise_mumford Cast member @amandalisman shared these photos from the set.
Look at how beautifully Hunstville was decorated. This is from Kent Park, where the Winter Wonderland Festival was filmed.
Any idea which Hallmark #ChristmasMovie was filming in Huntsville, Ontario yesterday? Lots in production or wrapped this week in BC: A GINGERBREAD ROMANCE, MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS, MINGLE ALL THE WAY, HOPE AT CHRISTMAS & TIME FOR ME TO COME HOME. A MAJESTIC CHRISTMAS was Montreal.
And here’s how downtown looked during filming:
A brand new Hallmark Christmas Movie is being filmed right here in Huntsville Muskoka! #HuntsvilleOntario #muskoka
Another look. Don’t you just want to visit the town in person now? Some scenes were filmed in Kent Park, complete with fake snow and everything. Doppler Online shared about the filming: “The biggest disruption will be to traffic and parking. Brunel Road from Main Street to High Street will be closed starting at 7am on Wednesday Sept. 26 to about noon on Saturday Sept. 29. As well, the east bound lane of Main Street will be closed from West Street to Brunel Road… lighting may be an issue for people who live downtown since the Christmas scenes will be shot in the dark and crews will be working until about 2 a.m.” According to the article, this movie was originally going to air in February 2019.
It feels like #Christmas in #Huntsville #Muskoka #Hallmark Holiday film being shot on the main street.
Everyone loved visiting the set.
When your Japanese students step onto the set of an American Hallmark movie being filmed in your small town of Huntsville, Ontario. #opentoopportunity #TLDSBlearns @HuntsvilleHS #snowisbatting
You can see more photos from the filming in this Facebook post here. In the discussion, they mention that Hunstville brought in nearly $1.5 million from the filming, including the rental of Kent Park and the Active Living Centre. Other shots can be scene at the Swing Bridge, and Kent Park was the location for the Rivers Crossing’s Winter Wonderland Festival. They even had a River’s Crossing patrol car on set and used Illinois license plates for authenticity. A sign in front of the Wilgress Building read, “Thanks for visiting Rivers Crossing.”
Some of the fliming was also done in North Bay, Canada, according to an interview Sean Faris had with Media Village. The Hunstville part was filmed in just three to four days. He told Media Village: “It was a 15-day shoot and we had wind storms that pounded us and little preparation [for them]. Production found a way to shoot indoors, but we needed to get one exterior shot, so we waited until the storm passed and got it at 2 a.m. We had to, as we’d never get that location again, but it all worked out.”