Christmas in the village of Lakewood is set to be held on the first three weekends of December. Submitted photo

LAKEWOOD — The village of Lakewood will be feeling the Christmas spirit every weekend up until Christmas as the Christmas in the Village of Lakewood event returns after a few year hiatus.

The event was first held in 2018, then taking a few years off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now returning for the first time since then. The event is put on by the Lakewood Community Development Corporation and is set for the first three weekends of December – beginning today – from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays throughout the village.

Michelle Turner with the Lakewood Community Development Corporation said a variety of events will be taking place on all three weekends, ranging from outdoor movies Friday nights to carolers and visiting with Santa and Mrs Clause, to sleigh rides on Chautauqua Avenue, merchant specials and more. On the final day of the event, Dec. 21, there is a large drawing taking place for gift baskets from local participating businesses.

“People can stop in at participating businesses on Chautauqua Avenue and pick up a card and continue to go around to all of the stores on the card,” Turner said. “When you get to the last store you leave your card there and your name gets put in for the drawing.”

Other event activities include; a live tree carving, vendors, and a human library. Turner said the human library will take place at Group Ther-Happy on Dec. 14 and 21, and will involve two different authors telling their stories. The Lakewood library will be having events for the kids, along with the ability to write letters to Santa and for them to put it in a large mailbox in what has been deemed “the North Pole corner” of the parking lot, which will be decorated.

“There are a variety of different things we have not done in the past,” Turner said. “The human library is new, the outdoor movies are new. Hot chocolate and Tim Bits will be provided at the movies. We have several things happening to give people something to do. There will be lights and the businesses will be decorated. With the snow we just got it feels like Christmas and it’s perfect for our weekend kickoff.”

The mission of the Lakewood Community Development Corporation is to find ways to continue to beautify the village and increase economic development, and Turner said this December event is one of the ways to do that.

“It gives people new and different reasons to make their way into the village,” Turner said. “They can come visit the shops and we hope to draw in people who may never have been here before.”

Turner said the Lakewood Community Development Corporation and the village’s Board of Trustees are excited for Christmas in the village of Lakewood and are looking forward to being able to add events throughout next summer. Turner said they are trying to bring more awareness to what the village has and about the kind of shops and things that there are to do in Lakewood.

“Lakewood is a diamond in the rough and we want to showcase what we have here,” Turner said.

A full schedule of events for Christmas in the village of Lakewood can be found on Facebook under the Lakewood Community Development Corporation’s event page.