COVENTRY — Coventry’s Christmas in the Village is coming to town and organizers are getting ready to welcome in the festive season.
The event will be held Sunday, December 7 from 12 to 4 p.m.
The annual town event is sponsored by the Coventry Lions Club and is in its 22nd year.
According to Ruth O’Neil, the current sponsor and organizer of the event, the first village was held in 2004.
“Originally initiated by the Coventry Village Improvement Society, and called ‘An Old Fashioned Christmas in Coventry Village,’ its goal was to draw attention to the historical characteristics of Main Street and bring community and businesses together,” O’Neil said.
It was in 2007 that the Coventry Village Improvement Society turned its organization over to the Lions Club. Every season since, Coventry has celebrated the holiday with the event.
This year, the festivities will include more food trucks, new organizations and activity booths. Coventry’s America 250 group and local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts will have booths.
As part of the celebration, the Coventry Lions Club will hold its Christmas Tree Festival, which is a holiday decor sale, followed along with a Crafter Exhibition at the Coventry Community Center.
Drawings will be held for the trees decorated and donated by local businesses, organizations and individuals.
For more information on how to contribute a decorated tree, call 860-803-7163.
Other activities during Christmas in the Village include pony rides, horse drawn wagon rides and live musical performances by local artists. Those local artists include the Song-A-Day Music Center, crafts and a holiday dance performance by students of The Can-Dance Studio.
“For me, in addition to sharing music of the season with the community, which we will be doing throughout the afternoon, what is most meaningful is work together with so many individuals, organizations, businesses, town officials to make this a memorable afternoon for all to welcome in the holiday season,” O’Neil said.
Santa will also visit Coventry, where he will travel down Main Street to Coventry Arts and Antiques, where families and children may visit and have photos taken with him.
Those who visit will receive a holiday welcome at the front entrance of the Booth and Dimock Library. There will be refreshments and crafts to make and take.
Coordinated by the Coventry Arts Guild, there will be a holiday art and literary show that will be on exhibit.
The Coventry Parks and Recreation Department will also be at the library, with a special mail station and mailbox set up where children can drop off or write letters to Santa.
A make and take holiday craft will also be available for guests to create.
During the event, merchants along Main Street will be open, offering demonstrations, holiday gift ideas, specials, free drawings and refreshments.
The Coventry Visitors Center will have a Country Gift Cupboard with various area tourist materials.
As part of the Christmas in the Village, the First Congregational Church will hold its annual Holiday Fair booth on Saturday and again on Sunday.
Working alongside the event, the multi-day Eastern Connecticut event called the Artists’ Open Studio will be open.
“Two Main Street studios, Timberman Studio and Maple Brook Studio, will be open to the public as part of the Artists’ Open Studio along with four other Coventry studios that are participating,” O’Neil said.
To celebrate another year of the Christmas Village, there will be a tree lighting that will take place at 4:30 p.m.
“After enjoying an abundance of holiday happenings throughout the village area earlier in the day, community members and visitors can gather together in front of the First Congregational Church to share in this long-standing tradition,” O’Neil said.
Students from Coventry High School’s Chorus and Band program will be performing an array of holiday songs of the season.
Santa will be escorted down Main Street by the Coventry Fire Departments’ Torchlight Holiday parade in which he will lead. Fire trucks and other town vehicles will be decked out in holiday lights and decorations.