One of Malverne’s biggest Lightings to date

The Tap to Pointe dancers performed to Christmas tunes on Church St.

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Mayor McDonald visits with Kyle and Owen Mullane and their nanny, Lauren Tyson at the cookie workshop.

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"No flash photography, please!" says 5-year old Luke McKeon during Malverne's cookie workshop.

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You're never too old to decorate a ginger bread man. Briana Niedermyer and Ashley Grech decorated theirs.

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Liz Berger, Alison Lorch and Laurie Lerner, winners of a holiday wreath door prize at the Malverne Historical Society's Holiday Gala.

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Malverne HS Marching Band performed during the Elf Parade.

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Santa showed some bowling expertise at Sandee Lanes.

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Michael Forlife volunteered his give a hayride to those who visited Crossroads Farm on the day of the lighting.

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Suzanne Morrone and grandpa Joe pose by the horses.

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Mrs. Claus poses with Jasmine and Jada Leng at one of the village's three Breakfast with Santa events.

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Hundreds of people had breakfast with Santa at Grace Lutheran Church.

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Peter Freeman recites his original poem, "The Music Box."

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The Lighting honoree, Joe Schutta, flips the switch to light the village Christmas tree.

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Rabbi Susan Elkodsi of the Malverne Jewish Center said a prayer during the lighting of the menorah in Malverne.

Maryellen Lawless

Fr. Frank Parisi of Our Lady of Lourdes Church blesses the Creche.

Sue Grieco

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A beautifully-decorated village, numerous, festive holiday events and an evening with temperatures in the high 40s brought throngs of people to the Lighting of Malverne last Saturday, a event which has been held in the village for decades.

When asked how many people attended the event, Malverne Mayor Patricia McDonald said, “It’s definitely in the thousands. People are spread out throughout the village, so it may not look like that.”

It definitely seemed like that when the community came together at the corner of Utterby and Hempstead avenues to witness the blessing of the crèche and waited for the giant light switch to be flipped to illuminate the village Christmas tree. “It’s definitely one of the biggest Lightings we’ve had,” said John Oddo of the Malverne Police Department. “It was very easy to stay outside and enjoy it for several hours because it wasn’t freezing.”

The Lighting of Malverne started each year, as it normally does, on a Thursday, when three different cookie workshops were held in the Malverne Library’s community room. The next day, an ornament workshop was held, as is tradition, in village hall. Both events lead up the day of the Lighting, which ran non-stop, starting with a 9 a.m. breakfast with Santa (the first of three) to movies with Santa (this year, the children saw the movie “Minions” during two different sittings), bowling with Santa at Sandee Lanes, and ultimately the evening of the lighting.

This year brought several new firsts to the Lighting’s traditional festivities, including the Grace Lutheran Choir, which sang prior to the blessing of the crèche, and lots of activity at Crossroads Farm, which offered free evening hayrides around parts of the farm’s perimeter, which was lit by holiday lights. The farm also hosted several concerts by local artists, several theatre performances by the Malverne Community Theatre group who performed “How I Met Your Santa”, and held a holiday decoration exchange event.