The Village of Ridgewood Gears Up for the Annual “Downtown for the Holidays”

photo by Boyd Loving

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Village of Ridgewood will be holding a Downtown for the Holidays event this year, which will be in keeping with COVID-19 restrictions. Social distancing and face masks will be required. The event will be held on December 4, 2020, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., when East Ridgewood Avenue will be closed from Maple Avenue to Broad Street, creating a pedestrian mall. The Village Christmas tree, at the corner of East Ridgewood Avenue and Broad Street, will be glowing with lights, the trees in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square and at Station Plaza will be decorated with festive ornaments donated by residents, businesses, groups, and organizations; there will be a trackless train for the kids to ride; a Kid’s Corner with a drawing to take home and submit for a prize; music throughout the area by various groups; mimes in store windows; and a decorated fire truck. Santa Claus and The Grinch will also be appearing on various rooftops throughout the Central Business District, see if you can find them! Our stores and eateries welcome you as we all join together, to start the holiday season!

There will also be a “Grinch Hunt”, because we don’t want The Grinch to spoil the holidays in Ridgewood. The Grinch can be found from December 4th through December 21st, in 28 of our local stores and eateries, on both the east side and west side of the Central Business District. When you find The Grinch in a store or eatery, you will provide your contact information to be entered into a prize drawing to win one of the Grinches to bring home with you! The more Grinches that you see, the more entries you will receive for the prize drawing. Only one entry per person for each business or eatery. The deadline for entries is December 21st.

As previously mentioned, the trees in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square and at Station Plaza will be decorated with donated ornaments from residents, businesses, groups and organizations. Please see the flyer attached to this E-Notice for more information and locations where you can drop off your ornament. Remember to add a string or a hook so that your ornament can be hung on the tree! The deadline to drop off your ornament is November 25, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.

In addition, during this season of giving, we would like to assist those in need. Donation boxes for new, unused toiletries will be placed in various locations throughout Ridgewood. These items are not covered by SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), and will be donated to Ridgecrest Senior Housing, SHARE Senior Housing, Social Services Food Pantry, West Bergen Mental Healthcare, and Family Promise. Please see the flyer attached to this E-Notice for locations where you can drop off new, unused toiletries. The deadline for the toiletry donations is December 17, 2020.

Saturday, December 5th will be Ridgewood Sale Days, with great deals to be found in many of our stores and businesses.

Saturday, December 12th will be a West Village Winterland event on the west side of the Central Business District. Come and shop and eat in the West Village of Ridgewood! More details to follow!