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Date: 12/7/2021
BELCHERTOWN – After a successful Festival of Lights in 2020, Christ Community Church will be hosting its second festival on Dec. 11 at 5 p.m.
Joanna Mull, one of the event’s organizers, said the idea for the Festival of Lights came from wanting to help people during a dark time at the peak of COVID-19 in late 2020.
“Last year was the height of COVID [-19] and we had not done anything for Christmas prior to 2020, but we just felt like we needed to do something for the community to give them a little bit of a bright spot during a challenging year,” she said.
In its first year, Mull said church members came up with creative ideas for their displays.
“Members of our church body volunteer to put together different displays. Last year we had Christmas trees that were decorated thematically, we had a Grinch Christmas tree, we had a COVID [-19] Christmas tree that was covered in toilet paper. We also had different displays like a nativity scene, giant wrapped Christmas presents and someone brought a suit of armor and had it wrapped in Christmas lights,” she said.
Mull said people can expect different kinds of displays but did not want to spoil what the church members are planning for this year.
Instead of being a drive through event like it was in 2020, people will walk a path through the displays this year.
“It is going to look a lot different this year. Last year, it was a drive through event only and we had cars come through and they drove along the whole path, but we were confined to one area of the lot because the whole parking lot was under construction. This year construction is complete, and we have a better idea of COVID [-19] and the outdoors so people will be walking through, and we will have a path for them,” she said.
Along with the light displays, Mull said attendees have plenty of activities to look forward to.
“Similar to last year we will have a live nativity that people can enjoy and look at along with live caroling, a fire pit and some food trucks. This year we have Firehouse Hot Dogs and Hot Oven Cookies, in addition to cookies Hot Oven will be selling hot chocolate, so there are some snack options for people to warm up to,” she said.
The church will also be collecting for its food pantry during the event, which Mull said was a huge success in 2020.
“Last year we said we had a food pantry for anyone to donate into and we were shocked we raised $1,200 for the food pantry, which goes back into the community so that was a really unexpected gift in addition to dry goods as well,” she said.
“We did not know what last year would look like, but we had a lot of people tell us how encouraging it was and how it was a bit of a bright spot during a dark time, and that is our hope with these events. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and enjoy a really fun season that means a lot to our church, but it is also a season to connect with people,” she said.
Mull said she is looking forward to seeing what the church members come up with this year.
“I think I am really looking forward to meeting people and seeing what the church comes up with as far as light displays. Everyone is always so creative, so I am looking forward to seeing the final product. We want to build on it so it becomes bigger and better every year and is something the community can look forward to and enjoy,” she said.
Mary Jablonski, who is also helping organize the event, said she is looking forward to seeing the community.
“Events in general for the community have been shockingly refreshing. The people that come out are so thankful and just energized to have some silly little thing to go to. We are just throwing some events for them to come to, and they are always so nice to talk to, I think that is always something I look forward to,” she said.
Christ Community Church is located at 1255 Federal St.