For the 25th year in a row, the Grotto Pizza Parade of Trees is in full swing at the restaurant on Harveys Lake.
It's an annual competition where local businesses or community groups team up with a charity, put up a Christmas tree in the restaurant, and wait for patrons to vote for their favorite by making donations. $1 equals 1 vote.
"Every year, they get better. It's taken on a competitive nature, where everybody wants to win," said co-owner Armand Mascioli.
Each monetary vote will go directly to the charity the tree supports. The top 3 trees with the most votes will not only keep that money, but they will split a prize pot too.. that's made up of entry fees and a $25,000 donation from the Joseph and Erma Paglianite Charitable Foundation.
"One of the nice things about the parade of trees because there are 25 different trees, there are a lot of charities you don't normally hear from, like the one behind us, the Carrie Martin Scholarship Fund," explained marketing director Tony DeCosmo. "That's not one of these charities that gets a lot of national attention and so forth. We've got a lot of charities like that that are very regionally focused. So there's there's opportunity to do a lot of good."
Folks with Grotto tell Newswatch 16 this year's parade of trees has been slightly impacted by the pandemic, but they think it's only minor obstacles the community will overcome to raise money for charity.
"Obviously, the situation with COVID-19, it affects the customer counts that we have coming into the restaurant. So there are less opportunities for people to vote to raise that money. But if this region is any indication in the past track record of this event. People are very generous," said DeCosmo.
Overall the Parade of Trees has raised more than $320,000 since it started. Last year it raised a record amount of $53,000.
"So there's a real opportunity for some of these charities to make a ton of money. And this time of year, with everything that's going on, I have to believe a lot of these organizations are hurting for donations. Money's tight for everybody, so this is an opportunity for these charities to raise some money," said Decosmo.
You can cast your vote for your favorite here at Grotto Pizza at Harveys Lake until New Year's Eve.