“Christmas in Cayce” kicked off Thursday night with the city’s 40th annual tree lighting and a celebration of early displays of the holiday spirit.

The event was, as always, organized by the Woman’s Club of Cayce. Club members collected donations of cash and canned goods for God’s Helping Hands, a crisis ministry that serves the Cayce area.

Hundreds gathered outside Cayce City Hall for the tree lighting, which included musical performances from local kids, and of course an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus.

The Woman’s Club also celebrated the success of its “80 Days of Kind” project, in which the entire community was invited to perform acts of kindness. In a total revealed Thursday night at the tree lighting ceremony, 38,011 acts of kindness were reported to the club from Sept. 6 through Nov. 24.

The tree and other lights will remain on display at Cayce City Hall through Dec. 31. The “Christmas in Cayce” festivities continue this weekend with caroling along the Riverwalk Friday and the Cayce Historical Museum’s holiday open house Saturday.

Details on those events and on the 2017 neighborhood tree lighting project are available at the City of Cayce website.

The annual Holiday Parade of Lights, hosted by the Greater Cayce-West Columbia Chamber, is set for Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m.