A look at the calendar might show us that Christmas is still more than two months away, but that won’t keep Follansbee Municipal Park from coming alive with the spirit of the holiday season this weekend.

And it’s all thanks to the annual Christmas in the Park festival.

Scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, the park will be adorned with Christmas lights and other holiday decorations, and Christmas music from various eras will fill the air. There will be dozens of vendors and numerous drawings. Hood’s Pharmacy will be offering flu shots on Saturday and representatives from area agencies will be providing information about what they do during the weekend.

As part of the annual tradition, Santa Claus will make an appearance at 12:30 p.m. each day.

Visitors also will be able to see several of the life-size nutcrackers that are part of the Steubenville Nutcracker Village. The appearance of those figures is made possible by Nelson Fine Art and Gifts of Steubenville. Support for the event, once again, is being provided by Trinity Health System.

Stacie Williams and Bill Secrist, co-chairs of the festival, agree it is a great way to spend a fall weekend, but they add there’s also a serious side — money raised during the festival goes to help others, including the Follansbee R.E.A.C.H. Program, a local food pantry, and local children with special medical needs.

That’s in keeping with the mission of the festival when it was created decades ago by Secrist and former city Councilwoman Kathy Santoro.

Providing an opportunity to get into the holiday spirit and offering the chance to enjoy a fall afternoon, all while raising money that will help improve the lives of area residents — it’s a formula that has led to a successful weekend that continues to be a must-attend event for residents of the Tri-State Area.