On a frigid and windy evening Dec. 6, Lehigh Township residents flocked to the first tree-lighting ceremony held in the township in recent memory.

The event took place at Bryfogle Park, directly across from Berlinsville Hotel, and included children’s activities, a visit from Buddy the Elf and Christmas Belle, pictures with Santa, an address from the supervisors and, of course, the lighting of the newly installed tree.

The event had been in the planning for quite a while, according to township Manager Alice Rehrig, who said Cynthia Miller, board of supervisors chairwoman, approached the board back in April or May with the idea for the tree lighting as a way to do something nice for people in the area.

Working in partnership with Kylie Adams, manager of the affiliated chambers with Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce, supervisors were able to coordinate an event that included 15 local businesses that ranged from food to crafts. In addition, a canned food drive benefited Salem United Methodist Church’s food pantry.

As it happens with many first-time events, there was a glitch. Two schedules were advertised, with the first one having the supervisors and Santa arrive 7 p.m. and the tree lighting set for 7:15 p.m.; the second schedule had the tree lighting advertised for 6:30 p.m.

This left some people feeling left out when Santa arrived 5:30 p.m. and the festivities ended 6:30 p.m.

Vicky Ash, with Berlinsville Hotel, said staff got a lot of positive feedback from their customers about the event ahead of time, but the change in schedule was unfortunate. She related a story of a family who brought nine grandchildren to the event and waited where it was warm for the right time to go over.

“Is it almost time?” asked one of the grandchildren, at which point Ash had to inform them the tree was already lit.

“I just looked out the window, and it was lit,” Ash said.

“I think it was a great idea, and we’re pretty happy overall with the results,” Ash said of the food stand employees put up for the event. “We just wish they hadn’t pulled the plug so early.”

She added a lot of effort went into making it happen, such as “bringing up a full kitchen,” which is a huge endeavor for such a short time.

According to Adams, the board of supervisors moved the agenda up to have time for pictures with Santa after the tree lighting.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

Regardless, smiles were abundant as everyone braved the extremely chilly temperatures together to share a little joy.

“It’s a great venue. The park is quite large with a lot of room to grow in the coming years. We look forward to coming back and really need to thank our sponsors because, without them, we would not be here,” Adams said.

The sponsors included The Pritchard Company, tree-lighting sponsor; SVN Imperial Realty/Cindy Miller, tree-lighting sponsor; Home Helpers of the Northern Lehigh Valley, Christmas spirit; AF Boyer Hardware, character sponsor; Dimmich & Dinkelacker, character sponsor; Keystone Technology LLC, Santa’s helper; Neffs National Bank, Santa’s helper; Crayola, crayon sponsor; EBC Printing, coloring page sponsor; and Omega Protective Services, safety sponsor.