Although the winter holidays are months ahead, South Whitehall officials are already making plans for the annual December lighting ceremony and festivities.

This year, a major change will take place.

At the July 1 meeting, board President Christina "Tori Morgan explained.

"We have outgrown our venue," she said. "We need to move it somewhere with more room."

Township Manager Howard Kutzler said a new location for the holiday ceremony, which has been held at the township building along Walbert Avenue.

"We are in the process of shifting our tree lighting ceremony to Covered Bridge Park,"Kutzler said. "We will have a little village effect with the bridge and white house owned by the township decorated."

Parks and Recreation Manager Randy Cope explained the reason for the move.

"We've outgrown the township building," Cope said. "Some people had a long walk for parking. This is going to be a nice new tradition."

Cope said lights will be strung around the bridge at Wehr's Dam and around the perimeter of the white house.

"It will be very classy. It won't be overdone," he explained. "We'll also light a tree at the park."

The evening will include a visit from Santa, the choir from St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church, balloon animals and face painting for children, and cookies, hot chocolate and apple cider, Cope said.

He wants to incorporate new activities, more entertainment and interactive opportunities in addition to the ceremony.

"This will be a great community event unique to our township," Cope said. "We're proud of our covered bridges. We'll showcase those and bring in the holiday spirit by lighting at the park. This is a step in the right direction for our holiday celebration."

He said the big trees outside the administration building will not be decorated.

"It took 100 man hours for that – a weeklong process," Cope said. "We had to rent a bucket truck to do it, but we'll probably do some other decorating there. The township building will look beautiful as always."

Morgan commented on the new site.

"We want to expand on some of the things we've been doing," Morgan said. "Moving it there will be a nice change.

"We'll have tents for the ceremony. We can show off our beautiful park system and accommodate a larger crowd.

"We'll carry our tradition with us and start some new ones."