WESTWOOD—The holiday spirit has taken over the Westwood Community Center as residents came together to participate in art, crafting, food pantry donations and the reprisal of the Recreation Department’s Holiday Decorating Contest.
The holiday season kicked off with the department’s sponsorship of an ice carving artist during the Home for the Holidays activities the weekend of Dec. 4.
Ice sculptor James Nearly brought forth a delightful snowman and a clever penguin from two solid blocks of ice in a cool two hours.
The art was on display in Veterans’ Memorial Park following the parade and for the following day.
On Monday, Dec. 6, adults of all ages gathered in the Westwood Community Center for the department’s first paint and sip-style event with artist/instructor Brit Sikiric, who also leads the ForeverYoung art class.
The event saw 22 budding artists create their take on a wintry holiday scene complete with starry sky, snow mounds and a lovely Christmas tree.
On Thursday, Dec. 9, the kids stole the show with their holiday crafting of holiday snow globe “desk pets.” Using Crayola Model Magic, fabric, and a lot of imagination, more than 150 kids showed off their clay modeling skills.
At the Westwood Recreation Preschool, students and their families showed their generosity by participating in their class food drive for the Borough’s food pantry maintained by the Social Services department.
This year, the classes were especially big-hearted, collecting enough shelf-stable food and paper supplies to help several families in need.
Finally, the department kicked off its second annual Holiday Home Decorating Contest. Westwood residents are encouraged to get outside and have some fun creating magical holiday displays with lights, inflatables, scenes and more — all the things that add flair to make this holiday season merry and bright.
To enter, residents must complete the related form at https://tinyurl.com/2p94j8ev and upload a photo of their display. Photos will be added to the department’s Facebook photo gallery (facebook.com/westwoodnjrec) for viewing.
Judging by the Westwood Recreation Advisory Board will commence on Dec. 20, with three winners announced on Dec. 23. Winners will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Westwood business or restaurant of their choice and a special lawn sign designating the winning homes.
This year Westwood Recreation is partnering with Celebrate Westwood so that if you wish to be included on their self-guided map of Holiday Lights, you can do so when you register for the home decorating contest.
Recreation director Gary Buchheister told Pascack Press on Dec. 14, “Hosting free and low-cost community events is one of the best ways we can foster the type of community engagement that leads to participation in our enrichment and athletic programs – from kids learning the first fundamentals of art to adults volunteering their time as coaches.”
He added, “We strive to offer the types of activities and programs that help our residents learn and grow and we look forward to welcoming everyone to our incredible lineup of 2022 winter programs in January.”
Buchheister said the new 2022 Winter Programs flyer will be released soon and that registration kicks off Jan. 3. Details will be shared on westwoodnj.gov/recreation and facebook.com/westwoodnjrec.