The village of Panama is ready to go with their Christmas in Panama event at the end of the month and also briefly discussed their annual Christmas Light Contest and goals for next year during the November meeting. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

PANAMA — As the days move slowly toward the end of 2024, the village of Panama has begun preparation for the Christmas season and wrapping up the year.

Christmas in Panama is set for Nov. 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the village. During the November meeting, the village board discussed what was left to prepare for that and what was all set.

“We have 23 tables paid for,” said Lisa Ireland, village clerk. “I was telling Lorissa today, I was going to wait until after the leaf pickup tomorrow to promote it on Facebook, because sometimes I do that and the posts don’t get seen.”

The board has been working on preparations for the event over the last few months, and said that everything else is set and ready to go. Mayor William Schneider noted to the Panama Central School Jamestown Community College Leadership Class that was also in attendance at the November meeting that the Christmas in Panama event is an annual celebration that includes activities for everyone, including bringing in Santa.

“Every year the village has a Christmas celebration and Santa comes in, and they provide cocoa and fun stuff, and they also have like a craft, artisans selling stuff,” Schneider said. “So it’s like a little Christmas shopping event too, and that’s the Saturday before Thanksgiving.”

The other big Christmas event for the village is the annual Christmas lighting contest. The village briefly discussed advertising and having buckets for voting at local businesses for the contest, which begins in December.

The November meeting and moving towards Christmas also leads the village to begin to look at the end of the year, which means Schneider said they need to start looking forward to next year.

“So, one of the things we need to think about is taking a look at our appointments and seeing if there’s anybody or anything that we need to change up as far as that goes,” Schneider said.

Schneider encouraged the board to look at new goals moving forward, and to keep in mind that their budget year does not come to a close until May.

“Just kind of think about that, and where we want to go and what we want to do,” Schneider said.