Park officials looking for a few good trees

■ Or more

Christmas in the Park is an annual and much-anticipated event hosted by Riverside Park. Many area kiddos and grown ups see it as a great opportunity to get together to share cookies, smiles and hot chocolate; to win prizes and have a chance to visit with Good 'Ole St. Nick.

This year, Riverside Park officials would like to add some spice to the yearly festivities with a friendly Christmas tree decorating competition. Area businesses, organizations, groups, families or even individuals are invited to participate in what will hopefully become an annual tradition that goes hand in hand with Christmas in the Park. Each entrant will supply their own tree, lights and decorations. The sky is the limit as far as themes go. After all of the trees are set up, visitors to Christmas in the Park will get to vote for their favorite tree with tickets. Each participating tree will receive a participation ornament and, at the end of the night, a special tree winner ornament will be given to the tree with the most votes.

Christmas in the Park is scheduled for December 9 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and will be located in the enclosed 4H Building, along North 5th Street. You can sign up your business, organization, group, family or individual until December 6 either by calling the park office at 620332-2512 or by picking up and dropping off an application at the park office, located at 400 Mickey Mantle Way.

The building will be available the week prior for decorating purposes, so if you would like to decorate your tree onsite, that would be the perfect time to do it. You can also decorate your tree ahead of time and deliver it to the 4H Building no later than 1:00 p.m. on December 9. You can include and/or display your company, organization or group logo. Just make sure that your theme is family friendly.

The park hopes that the community will support this new idea and plans are already underway for next year's event.