There will be lights and music and treats as Petrolia residents kick off the Christmas season Friday and Saturday.

Friday night, Victoria Park comes alive with a Chili Cook-off starting at 6 pm. A number of service clubs and community groups are vying for the Chili Pot and Silver Fork Awards.

The town’s Christmas trees will be turned on by Mayor John McCharles at 6:30 pm.

There will be a live nativity scene and free hay rides with the Sisters of Choice leading Christmas carols, and the Petrolia and North Enniskillen Fire Departments will have “chestnuts” (marshmallows) roasting on an open fire.

Cookies, hot chocolate and cider, compliments of the IODE and Lambton County Developmental Services, will be available throughout the evening as well.

Officials ask you to bring a non-returnable tree ornament and to help decorate the community trees.

The Lambton Central Petrolia Optimist Club will dedicate the Angel Tree just before 6:30 pm.

Laurissa Ellsworth, director of marketing for the town, says the climax of the town’s holiday celebrations will be marked by the annual Santa Claus Parade.  It starts at 2 pm Saturday, at the high school and will wind its way down Huggard Street to the downtown which was recently reopened after a major construction project.

And this year there will be lots of music. “The Community Services Committee is pleased to announce that this year three marching bands will be joining in the fun,” says Ellsworth. The Northern Band from Port Huron, MI, The St. Clair Colts Band from Sarnia, ON, and The Western Band from The University of Western Ontario, London will all be on hand.

Several organizations will be collecting food for the Petrolia Food Bank and the Petrolia/North Enniskillen Firefighters will be holding their annual boot drive during the parade to raise some money and collect canned food for the food bank.