Light up the lake: Granite Quarry taps Christmas spirit during weekend festival
Published 12:10 am Thursday, December 12, 2024
Families and festivalgoers gather around the campfire to make s'mores during the Christmas at the Lake festival in Granite Quarry on Saturday.
Granite Quarry Events Coordinator Debbie Loflin-Benge said that the town spread the festival throughout the park this year to utilize more of the space.
Granite Quarry hosted a festival of trees during the Christmas at the Lake event, which included approximately 25 trees decorated by various community organizations and businesses.
GRANITE QUARRY — Granite Quarry hosted the annual Christmas at the Lake festival on Saturday, and this year brought more attendees, a larger festival of trees and a larger footprint for the event.
The full festival has been held at Granite Lake Park on North Salisbury Avenue since 2021, said Events Coordinator Debbie Loflin-Benge, but the town has held a festival of trees at the park since before she started working there.
This year, the festival included 25 trees, which Loflin-Benge said was the most the town had ever had. Twenty-four of those trees were decorated by community organizations and businesses, including Harwood Signs, Hot Dog Shack, Wittenberg Lutheran Church and the local Girl Scouts. The last tree was decorated in honor of Ethan Mastro by his family. Mastro died in a vehicle accident in 2022 at the age of 20.
The festival of trees was free to join, Loflin-Benge said, so long as the party decorating the tree paid for the tree and its decorations. The trees were lit up at dusk on Saturday and will remain in the park through the end of December.
Loflin-Benge said that the town made the decision to expand the event’s footprint this year, increasing the area for vendors to set up to include the playground area at the northern end of the park. She said that her and town officials wanted to use more of the park as well as open up the event and give it more of a spacious feel. Thirty-three vendors signed up for the event along with four food and drink vendors.
The town of Granite Quarry also had a stand at the event advertising and asking for assistance with the local Operation Christmas Spirit drive. The town partnered with counselors at Granite Quarry Elementary School to identify two families and 19 individual children to bring holiday spirit to through Christmas gifts. Loflin-Benge said on Monday that the town still had 12 children who had not been “adopted.” Anyone who wishes to help out can visit Granite Quarry Town Hall, located at 143 N. Salisbury Ave., or call 704-279-5596 during standard business hours. The town is asking for all gifts and donations to be turned in by Monday, Dec. 16.
Loflin-Benge said that there are already plans to expand the local Operation Christmas Spirit program in 2025 by identifying children and families in Faith as well. The two towns share the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority.
