(Special to the Leesville Leader)

By Ashlyn Little

The city of Leesville will be hosting its inaugural Christmas in July Friday and Saturday at the Leesville Event Center. The event will be held 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Admission is free to this event.

According to leesvillela.gov, this year Santa decided to take a break from toy making and headed south to Leesville. He swapped his traditional red suit for a T-shirt, traded in his reindeer for a pick-up truck, and set out to enjoy Christmas in July.

Santa will also be updating his Naughty and Nice lists in person at the event. He’ll be available for visits 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday to ensure residents have a spot on the Nice List. Each family will get one free keepsake photo with Santa and walk away with an official Nice List certificate to keep.

The Vernon Parish Library will also be hosting story hour for children with Ms. Nancy bringing her favorite holiday stories to life. There will be three opportunities to see her read over the weekend — 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

There will be plenty for children at this event, including a bounce house zone, temporary tattoo station, a coloring station with Christmas-themed pages, and a letter-writing station for Santa.

There will be karaoke and indoor ice skating, as well. Skaters can enjoy 45-minute sessions on the rink. New sessions will begin at the start of every hour. This activity will cost adults $10 and the price is $8 for children 5-12. Tickets will be available for this event and may be purchased using cash, credit or debit cards.

There will be a vendor market filled with handcrafted gifts, holiday sweets and unique gifts for shoppers. More than 30 vendors are participating with tables set up in the main area, hallways and parking lot.

Come hungry as there will be food trucks as well as a cookie-decorating station and don’t forget to take a break and cool off with free lemonade and popcorn while watching a Christmas movie.

Once rested, stop by the Christmas in July photo station to take a family photo to remember this Christmas in July for years to come.