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Date: 11/16/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Lions Club will be kicking off the holiday season when it hosts the annual tree lighting at the rotary on Dec. 2, starting at 6 p.m.
According to Lions Club Board of Directors member Donna Martinez, this year’s festivities will see a return of a new tradition, a lighted truck parade leading up to the big illumination.
“Last year we decided to make [the event] a little bit bigger and we had a couple of big trucks, and we had a lighted truck parade” leading up to the tree lighting, Martinez shared. Hoping to expand on this new tradition, she said this year’s parade is planned to “start at the corner of North Main Street, Elm Street and Westwood Avenue and come up North Main to the tree and the last truck will be the fire truck bringing Santa.”
Santa will then alight from the truck and throw the switch to illuminate the town Christmas tree, she said, which is in front of the First Congregational Church. Following the ceremony everyone is invited into the church to enjoy “hot cocoa and cookies and kids can visit with Santa,” Martinez said.
The truck parade is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., with the tree lighting expected to take place at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Lions Club has been sponsoring the annual town tree lighting since 1953.
Martinez said she and the Lions hope the tree lighting will be the kick off to a weekend of townwide holiday fun for families, including a Holiday Bazaar at the Pleasant View Senior Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 – admission is $5 non-perishable food donation for the food bank and pictures with Santa will be free – a Dec. 3 Polar Express train ride at Graham’s Central Station ice cream shop on Maple Street, tickets required, and a holiday shopping enter-to-win experience with small businesses throughout town on Saturday and Sunday. “People visiting the participating businesses can scan a QR code at each business to be entered in a drawing to win gift certificates from the participating businesses,” Martinez explained.
The Knights of Columbus at St. Michael’s Parish will also be sponsoring a Breakfast with Santa that weekend, Martinez noted. The event will take place in the church Community Center, 53 Somers Rd., Dec. 4 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and will include pancakes and the fixings, arts and crafts and pictures with Santa. Admission will be $7 adults, $5 children ages 5 to 12 and free for children 4 years of age and younger. Tickets will be available at the door.