Four community organizations have joined the Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce and City of Dowagiac this holiday season to light up the lives of families here at home.

aMatt Stack, supervisor for the City’s Department of Public Services, joined Phillipson in launching the new community-based project.

Through grant money the City received from St. Denys Foundation, four Frazier firs were purchased from West Michigan Farms in Allegan this week and placed at Beckwith Park, surrounding the Haggin-Wimberley Memorial Bandstand.

Matt Stack, supervisor for the City’s Department of Public Services, joined Phillipson in launching the new community-based project.

Through grant money the city received from St. Denys Foundation, four Frazier firs were purchased from West Michigan Farms in Allegan this week and placed at Beckwith Park, surrounding the Haggin-Wimberley Memorial Bandstand.

In coming days, the four evergreens will be decorated by teams of community members at their own expense and later given to four local families, Phillipson said.

When she put out the call to community organizations, the first four groups Phillipson approached eagerly agreed to join the project, she said. Design teams representing the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival, Domestic & Sexual Abuse Services (DASAS), Dowagiac Elks Lodge and 100 Women Who Care will each decorate a tree in a beautiful design of their choice.

The four groups have also selected a family to donate the tree to.

The “Lighting up the Lives of Local Families” project falls in perfect step with Dowagiac’s three-part Christmas Celebration, which wraps up Friday, Dec. 4, with this community’s beloved Candle-light Christmas Parade.  Phillipson said during pre-parade entertainment, the four beautifully-designed Frazier firs, along with the permanent evergreen at Beckwith Park and the Haggin-Wimberley Memorial Bandstand will be set ablaze during the annual tree-lighting ceremony.

Pre-parade entertainment on Friday, Dec. 4, begins at 6:15 p.m., featuring the ACTION Chorale and Positively Dance.  This year’s 103-unit holiday procession steps off at 7 p.m. at Front and Main streets in the downtown. Organizations and businesses still wishing to enter a unit in the parade may do so by calling the Chamber at 782-8212.