Summit Hill has invited the public to help forge a new Christmas tradition - a tree lighting in the borough.

The borough's recreation commission has planned its first, and hopefully annual, "Christmas on the Hill" ceremony for Sunday at the Ludlow Park gazebo.Members of the public are invited to join the board and Santa and Mrs. Claus Sunday evening for a night of holiday activities, commission secretary Amber Zuber said. The event is sponsored by Miners Market."We thought creating an event at the park in the community would attract more people from the community," she said. "We remembered a tree lighting happening (in the borough) when we were kids, but not recently."The program is slated to start at 6 p.m. In addition to the tree lighting, there will be hot chocolate and cookies served, and carol singing featuring students from Kathy Crampsie's guitar class.Families are invited to take their own pictures with Santa - for free."We try to be intentional about making our events open to everybody," Zuber said. "Some people may not have a chance to get to the mall and get a picture with Santa."The commission is asking attendees to support their food drive for the Summit Hill Food Pantry. They've asked for nonperishable, high-demand items such as cereal and peanut butter.The event is in place of the borough's annual Breakfast With Santa. Zuber said the breakfast was a great event for children, but they wanted to have a holiday event where the entire borough would feel welcome."In past years we had something more geared toward children, our Breakfast with Santa," she said. "This year we wanted to draw more people from the community, even if they don't have children."The tree lighting is just one of several projects currently underway from the recreation commission.Zuber said they are currently awaiting word on possible state grants for improvement projects at the borough's parks. They are also hoping to have more events that include borough residents of all ages in the near future.