On Saturday, the Weissport Borough held its first Santa parade and tree lighting ceremony.

During this event, members of the borough drove around the Weissport area with gifts to give out to the children in the community including crayons, coloring books, notepads, pencil cases and candy.

Afterward, the parade ended at the gazebo at the Weissport Park and a tree lighting ceremony was held. Pizza donated by Mario’s Pizza was also served to attendees at the park.

Mayor Paulette Watson said, “The reason we’re doing this is because as you know the Redneck Festival was canceled. That organization disbanded so now there’s nothing for the kids for Christmas. So we came up with this idea to do a little something for the kids.”

All of the gifts for the event were made possible by donations made by local businesses including Chantilly Goods, New Life Liquidation and AOK Heating, Air Conditioning, & Electrical.

Watson expressed her gratitude for all of the donations that the borough received for the event.

“Just from the couple of people that donated we got a lot of stuff. It’s amazing that these folks have donated for the kids here in town.”

Watson credited Weissport Borough Secretary Jennifer Ketchledge as well for being one of the major planners of the event.

Ketchledge said, “I just think we’re giving back to the Weissport community. I don’t think we get enough credit for doing what we do for the kids and stuff like that so I think we’re giving back to the kids because we know it’s tough right now with COVID and everything.”