The time for holiday giving and celebration gets underway Saturday when the 54th annual Butler City Spirit of Christmas Parade comes to town.

A variety of activities are taking place before the parade begins at 5:30 p.m.

Butler Downtown is hosting a craft and vendor show from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom on Main Street, a Butler Transit Authority bus will be parked in the Peoples Natural Gas lot on Main Street for the “Stuff the Bus” donation event for the Salvation Army, and activities for children will be held in the Peoples lot beginning at 3 p.m. Peoples Natural Gas is one of the primary sponsors of the parade.

In addition, Butler Downtown is holding its annual Small Business Saturday Passport. Many businesses will have passports containing a list of participating businesses. Patrons take the passports to all the participating businesses to receive a stamp, which enters them in a contest to win prizes, said Audrianna Bly, of Butler Downtown.

Businesses are encouraged to be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the event. Some businesses are having sales or giveaways.

At the craft and vendor show, Butler Downtown will sell Christmas ornaments to raise money to replace light bulbs in the snowflake Christmas lights in downtown with LED bulbs, Bly said.

“We're encouraging people to shop downtown during the day and visit restaurants,” Bly said.

The transit authority is asking people to bring unwrapped new toys, children's clothing in sizes 5-14 and nonperishable or canned food to the bus in the Peoples lot for the Salvation Army. Donations will also be accepted at the authority's bus terminal on West New Castle Street, said John Paul, executive director.

“We just ask for as much support from the community as possible, especially since we didn't do it last year,” Paul said. “The needs of children are great.”

For people who can't go to the parade, the bus will be parked at Target in Butler Commons in Butler Township from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, no parking will be permitted on Main Street after 3:30 p.m. and streets will be closed at 4:45 p.m. for the parade. Streets will reopen after the parade.

Mayor Ben Smith will lead the procession. He said the police and fire departments will participate in the parade.

A large contingent of Peoples employees and the float they built will join the parade.

Peoples and its employees take part in events in all 18 counties in which the company does business, and the Christmas parade in Butler is a favorite, said Barry Kukovich, Peoples spokesman.

“We do lot of events in our communities, but this is one of our favorite ones as evidenced by employees coming from all over to be in this,” Kukovich said. “They don't just come from Butler. They come from Pittsburgh, Indiana, Altoona, Johnstown. For a lot of people, it's become part of the Christmas tradition. That's how it evolved.”

He said Peoples employees have marched in the parade since 2013.