On Saturday, the Walnutport Borough held its fourth annual tree lighting ceremony at the Walnutport Park.

The event began at 5 p.m. with the lighting of the trees. Afterward, attendees got to walk around the park and see all of the decorated trees as well as enjoy candy and hot chocolate provided by the organizers.

All of the trees were purchased at Yenser’s tree farm in Lehighton and were sponsored and decorated by a total of 30 local businesses, organizations and individuals.

Due to COVID-19, the event was offered in-person as well as virtually through a livestream on the Walnutport Borough Facebook page.

Jennifer Wentz, Recreation Board chairwoman for the Walnutport Borough, organized the event.

Despite limitations due to COVID-19, Wentz expressed gratitude that the borough could livestream the event on Facebook and that they could still provide the event for the community members in person.

“I think that COVID has unfortunately made people lose out on a lot of stuff so I’m actually very grateful that we’re able to still do something even if it’s not to the scale that we’ve had in the past.”

Leslie Surita, a resident of Catasauqua, was a first-time attendee at the tree lighting event after finding out about it through Facebook.

Surita said, “We just wanted to get out and experience it firsthand as long as we felt safe, which we did.”

Surita said she enjoyed the tree lighting and that she looks forward to attending again next year.

In regard to next year, Wentz said she hopes that COVID-19 will be less of a concern and that the borough is already planning activities for next year’s event considering it will mark the fifth anniversary of the tradition.

Local business Balloons by Robin was also in attendance at the tree lighting event handing out Christmas-themed balloons to attendees. Balloon characters included Santa Claus, the Grinch, snowmen and reindeer.

Business owner Robin Zamadics said her business originally started “When my son was in high school the parents wanted a senior (balloon) arch for their basketball senior night and I learned how to make an arch. After that it just took off, everybody wanted arches and I did it for family and friends at first and then it became more of a business.”

Regarding the services she offers, Zamadics said, “Anything with balloons I can basically do.”

Some of these services include twisted balloons, arches, columns, stuffed balloons, sculptures and helium balloon bouquets.

Additionally she is available for numerous events and celebrations including baby showers, weddings and birthday parties.

Zamadics said, “If you need anything for a celebration you can always contact me. I can always make your event pop.”