EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – As the holidays and the annual Snowflake Festival arrives, the East Palestine Community Improvement Corporation is hoping to brighten the village’s future.
A Brighten Our Future Tree Lighting and Fundraiser will take place Dec. 7, in conjunction with the Snowflake Festival. Students from East Palestine City Schools will sell keepsake ornaments and raffle tickets as part of the event. Ornaments and raffle tickets can also be purchased HERE. The proceeds will benefit both the city schools and the CIC.
The village is also seeking corporate sponsors for the event to help businesses and organizations recover after the Norfolk Southern train derailment nearly two years ago. Sponsors will receive media exposure and banners hung near the Christmas tree, which will be located next to the Municipal Building.
The festival will run throughout the day, starting with Breakfast with Santa from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the City Park Community Center. The event also will feature horsedrawn carriage rides from noon to 4 p.m., a gingerbread house display at the East Palestine Memorial Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Christmas Tree Lane at Bea’s Insurance from noon to 5 p.m.
Downtown businesses will host the Snowflake Trail and other special events in their stores, and a Christmas parade will take place at 6:30 p.m. on North Market Street, followed by the tree lighting ceremony.
The winner of the raffle will be announced during the tree lighting ceremony.
The CIC, which was formed after the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment, allows the village to move quicker on development opportunities, said Jeff LeBeau, owner of WRL Advertising, which was hired to help lead recovery efforts along with the CIC.
“This allows the village to have an avenue to move a little bit quicker, and it’s pretty commonplace throughout Ohio. A lot of communities have these,” LeBeau said. “But as the CIC grows in the village, it will be a nonprofit that can help do a lot of things in the community.”
Pictured at top: Santa waves to the crowd during a past Christmas parade in East Palestine.