A number of volunteers who were recently helping to put up holiday lighting displays for the annual Belpre Holiday Lights which will be happening from the evening of Thanksgiving to Jan. 2. (Photo Provided)

BELPRE — It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Belpre as volunteers have been putting up holiday lighting displays around town for the annual Belpre Holiday Lights.

Volunteers have been decking the halls around Belpre setting up the Christmas lighting displays for the annual Holiday Lights Festival at Howes Grove Park, the Ohio River Access Boat Ramp, Civitan Park and other places around town.

“We are getting there,” said Darien Lorentz of the Belpre Holiday Lights Committee. “It has been slow as it seems volunteerism has been down some for people coming out and helping.

“We are definitely going to get there, but I’m not exactly sure by how much, but we will have a good display this year.”

Volunteers have been at the Belpre Holiday Lights workshop behind the city building the past couple of weeks, making last-minute repairs, replacing light strands and getting the remaining lighting displays ready to put out in time for the Christmas season.

A couple of volunteers put together a holiday lighting display that will be displayed in Belpre during the upcoming holiday season. Volunteers will put up about 140 lighting displays around the city. (Photo Provided)

Lorentz estimates they will get around 140 displays up by the time the lights are officially lit up Thanksgiving night. The holiday lights will be on starting Thanksgiving evening and will remain on display through Jan. 2.

“The Holiday Lights are very important to our community,” said Belpre Mayor Susan Abdella. “It brings us a lot of visitors, it gives a lot of pride and it brings a lot of people together.”

The new lighting displays include five new Christmas tree lighting displays on the Civitan Park gazebo with a new one in the center. There will be a few displays set up in different locations.

“We try to build four or five new displays each year,” Lorentz said. “Some of them might be getting put up a little late, but that is good too.

“We have placed a couple of new displays in Howes Grove Park and down at the boat ramp. We are going to let people find them.”

Volunteers put up holiday lighting displays at Howes Grove Park in Belpre for the upcoming Belpre Holiday Lights. Volunteers will put out about 140 lighting displays around the city at Civitan Park, Howes Grove Park and around the town. (Photo Provided)

Since the annual display has been so well established throughout the community, this year organizers have added a “Christmas Market” on Saturdays from 5-9 p.m. in six display buildings in the park where local artisans and vendors can sell holiday related items. The market starts the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.

They will also be featuring a Christmas Carousel that kids and families can ride for free which will be behind the park gazebo every Saturday from 5-9 p.m., starting the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Abdella said there was a lot going on in town during the holiday season.

“We are very excited with everything that is happening,” she said.

The Belpre Holiday Lights Committee has a core group of around five volunteers who have been putting up the displays. They have had others who can offer a day or so to come out and help put up some displays and they have had as many as a dozen at one time.

New this year will be six display buildings set up at Civitan Park for different groups and businesses to use as a “Christmas Market.” (Photo Provided)

“People do good when they are here,” Lorentz said.

They are always looking for people to come in and help. Throughout the year the group meets every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at their workshop behind the Belpre City Building where they construct displays and repair existing displays.

It doesn’t matter how mechanically inclined people are or what their experience is.

“We always have something that someone can do,” Lorentz said.

He is encouraging people who are interested in helping to show up at the Holiday Lights Building behind the Belpre City Building on Saturdays at 9 a.m.

Lorentz said the Belpre Lights combined with other displays at Parkersburg’s City Park make for a festive drive through the area.

“It is good for the community to have an activity around Christmas where they can get out for a short drive where they can see displays and be with family rather than have to drive 100 miles away in order to see lights like this,” he said. “You don’t have to leave the area to enjoy the holidays.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com