Oak Bluffs organizations are banding together to help the town decorate for the holiday season, raising funds to dress the town in lights and other festive ornamentation — including on Sunset Lake.

The tree in Healey Square will be lit at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26 with the holiday lights going on in Ocean Park simultaneously. Santa will make an appearance at the tree lighting, arriving by fire truck.

This year, however, a combination of budget issues and high costs that would have forced Oak Bluffs to enter a lengthy procurement process led the town to forgo some decorations — including a dancing light show that accompanies the Ocean Park landscape and the tree on Sunset Lake.

In a phone call to the Gazette this week, Oak Bluffs Association (OBA) president Larkin Stallings said the friends of Oak Bluffs and friends of Sunset Lake are working with the OBA to raise funds to bring back the Sunset Lake tree this year.

“We understand that the problem with Sunset Lake is not a funding problem, but a procurement problem,” he said. “We’re helping them to enhance the decorations — including Sunset Lake.”

In an email to the Gazette this week, Renee Balter, a member of the Friends of Oak Bluffs, encouraged Islanders to donate to efforts to bring together the town’s decorations.

“The brightly lit tiny Christmas tree that has been placed in Sunset Lake on a raft each year signaling the holiday season in Oak Bluffs, will be there again this year,” she wrote in part. “If anyone wishes to donate funds for this cause, please look for the GoFundMe page [on] Facebook or send a check in any amount to the Oak Bluffs Association.”

Heading into a planned weekend of holiday festivities following Thanksgiving, Mr. Stallings said he’s excited to kick start the season.

“The OBA is working with the town to create a kickoff to Christmas on Saturday, Nov. 26.”