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Panama prepares for the upcoming Christmas event | News, sports, jobs

Panama prepares for the upcoming Christmas event | News, sports, jobs

The Village of Panama is ready for their Christmas in Panama event at the end of the month and also briefly discussed their annual Christmas Lights Competition and goals for next year during the November meeting. PJ photo by Sara Holthouse

PANAMA – As the days slowly approach the end of 2024, the village of Panama has begun preparing for the Christmas season and closing out the year.

Christmas in Panama is on November 23 from 10am to 2pm in the village. During the November meeting, the village council discussed what still needed to be done to prepare for this and what was ready.

“We paid for 23 tables,” said Lisa Ireland, village clerk. “Today I told Lorissa I would wait until tomorrow after picking up the leaves to promote it on Facebook because sometimes I do that and the posts don’t get seen.”

The board has been working on preparations for the event for the past few months and said everything else is ready to go. Mayor William Schneider noted to the Panama Central School Jamestown Community College Leadership Class, who also attended the November meeting, that the Christmas in Panama event is an annual celebration with activities for everyone, including bringing in Santa Claus.

“Every year the village has a Christmas celebration and Santa Claus comes by, and they provide cocoa and fun stuff, and they also have a kind of craft: artisans who sell stuff,” Schneider said. “So it’s also a bit of a holiday shopping event, and that’s the Saturday before Thanksgiving.”

The other big Christmas event for the village is the annual Christmas lights competition. The village briefly discussed advertising and voting at local businesses for the contest, which begins in December.

The November gathering and the run up to Christmas also has the village starting to look toward the end of the year, which means Schneider said they should start looking forward to next year.

“So one of the things we need to think about is looking at our agreements and seeing if there’s anyone or anything that we need to change in that regard,” Schneider said.

Schneider encouraged the board to look at new goals for the future and keep in mind that their budget year doesn’t end until May.

“Just think about that and where we want to go and what we want to do,” Schneider said.