This Saturday, the village of Ashley will hold its 13th annual Christmas in Ashley event, complete with decorations, carols and cookies.
The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. and will start with the Christmas parade on East High Street at 5 p.m. Scott Lucas, post adjutant for the Ashley American Legion and one of the event’s organizers, said Christmas in Ashley will also feature luminaries, a firetruck, and a Nativity scene with live actors and animals.
“(The event has) been going for quite awhile,” Lucas said. “There’s a lot of the community (here). Everybody joins together to put this on. The churches are all involved, and the Boy Scouts are helping put candles out. It’s a community involvement thing. Everybody in the community is really (going for this).”
Lucas said local churches and businesses will be open to the public during the event. In addition, there will be a Christmas light decorating contest, free Christmas cookies, hot cocoa, and a toy and food drive at the Elm Valley Fire Department as well as a food drive for the Buckeye Valley Food Pantry.
This year’s Christmas in Ashley will be the second since the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID. Lucas said Christmas in Ashley has returned bigger than before, and he can’t wait to feel the holiday spirit on Saturday.
“I look forward to seeing the streets all lit up with luminaries and the kids when they come into the legion and they get the cookies and stuff,” Lucas said. “We have carolers who walk through the street. It’s just a real nice time for all that.”
Another part of the event Lucas is looking forward to is having the town crier ring the bell and welcome the Christmas spirit.
While Lucas will be helping with the American Legion’s traditional fish fry on Saturday, he hopes he’ll be able to step out and see the Christmas parade.
“It truly is an old-fashioned-type community Christmas,” Lucas said. “We want that feeling out there. A lot of nice stuff like that.”
