Christmas is approaching quickly, and the Strasburg community is gearing up for a full roster of holiday events and activities. Although many of the area's Christmas traditions have been observed for decades, many local organizations and businesses have combined their efforts in recent years to offer the community a holiday celebration to remember.

The annual Strasburg Christmas Tree Lighting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Strasburg Borough Office, 145 Precision Ave. During the event, the Lampeter-Strasburg Area Woman's Club will offer complimentary cookies, and refreshments will be available to purchase from Joe on the Go Coffee Co. and Robino's food trucks. This year's event is the largest tree lighting to date, and it will feature a variety of activities offered by local businesses and nonprofits such as Speckled Hen, Bespoke Brewing, the Lancaster County Art Association, and the Strasburg-Heisler Library. Live entertainment will include performances by the Lampeter-Strasburg Community Band, students from Sight & Sound Theatres' conservancy and youngsters from Sunshine Corners Inc. day care center. A model train display assembled by Ben Styles will be set up in the borough office, where Santa will hand out small gifts to children after he arrives in a fire truck.

For many years, the annual Christmas tree lighting took place in Strasburg's town square. In 2023, the event's organizers decided to change the location to the Strasburg Borough Office to avoid heavy traffic at the square. The tree lighting is now a collaborative effort that is sponsored by the Strasburg Heritage Society, the Lampeter-Strasburg Area Woman's Club and Strasburg Borough. Last year, a Christmas tree was planted at the borough office to serve as an annual holiday spectacle for years to come.

The Christmas tree lighting will kick off the weekend with its biggest event yet, but the festivities won't stop there. Wesley United Methodist Church (UMC), 40 W. Main St., Strasburg, will host a Christmas market and cookie sale on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 20 vendors will sell a variety of handcrafted items at the church, including Christmas decorations, knitted accessories, jewelry, candles and original paintings. Homemade delights such as sand tarts will be available to purchase, and Robino's food truck will sell additional refreshments.

The holiday fun will continue on Sunday, Dec. 8, with a Christmas caroling event at 6:30 p.m. Community members are invited to gather at Wesley UMC and bring a flashlight; groups will disperse from the church to sing on various streets around Strasburg's town square.

"It's a unique celebration that brings out a lot of different age groups, and it's a little bigger and better than last year," said event organizer Kay Graybill. "With the new space at the borough office, we're able to include more groups and activities. We want to do this more often to have activities that the whole town can come to."

In addition to collaborating with other organizations to plan a full weekend of community events, Wesley UMC will host its annual Christmas pageant at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 and 14; an additional show will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15. This is the 65th year the church will host the pageant, which will feature a live Nativity and narration of the birth of Jesus accompanied by music.