Article and Photos by Marty Proctor, South Lake Tablet
On Friday night December 9, Groveland hosted its tree lighting ceremony. Keeping the family-friendly focus, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus were in attendance, happily visiting with kids and their parents inside the Puryear Building, along with their helper Elf Paula.
Mike Walker, Groveland Director of Parks, Facilities, and Community Services shared, “seeing the smiling faces of all the children who are able to talk with Santa is priceless.”
The event coincided with the increasingly popular Second Friday Market Night which offered a wide variety of vendor food and drink. Chef Keith Keogh of Olive Isle shared that the vendor count had doubled in the last year from an average of 30 to 60 food trucks, retail, and beverage vendors.
The Tree Lighting
Live music was provided by several bands concluding with The Randall Crawford Band at the Amphitheater.
Walker summarized the night, “The Groveland 2nd Friday event has become one of the signature events for us at Lake David Park & Amphitheater. The Christmas events, along with the July 4th and Founders Celebration earlier in the year, are special and enjoyable. We are blessed to host such events for our residents”.
This year’s series of special events leading up to Groveland’s Christmas spectacular created many memorable moments and lots of magical memories.
