It's ho-ho-holiday time on Levack's Valley St.

BY MARG SEREGELYI

The Magic of Christmas started 11 years ago when Joan Parker dressed up as an elf with her then neighbour, Joanne McLeod.  "After that it just grew," explains Parker.

Once a year, Valley St. in Levack is blocked off for a night of fun that lights up everyone's holiday season.

This year's party will be held this Sunday from 6 to 8 pm.

Parker and her husband, Ray, who are both retired, wanted to "give back to the community."

It started small, but they continued to add decorations, lights and characters until their home at 13 Valley St. became an attraction to neighbourhood families. Eventually, most of the homeowners on the tiny street began to participate in decorating their homes.

More than 1,200 peopled showed up last year for the street party.

There are gifts for children, apple cider and hot chocolate are served from an ice hut, and hot dogs are cooked on the barbecue. Bonfires are lit for roasting marshmallows.

The firefighters from the Levack/Onaping Falls Fire Department donate their time by giving wagon rides.