It may be a bit early to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but visitors at the Palmerton Memorial Park pool got to celebrate Christmas in July on Saturday.

For over 20 years, the park has played host to the summertime yuletide event, which is organized and funded by the Pool Pals.

“We have Christmas trivia with prizes, Christmas present giveaway every half-hour for six different age groups. We had Santa Claus come through today to give out a family membership and give little gifts to the kids. We’ve also been giving Christmas cookies that have been donated by the patrons here at the pool,” acting park manager Lee Arner said.

Taking some time off from his own vacation, Santa Claus showed up in his shorts, shades and Hawaiian T-shirt to give out seasonal gifts like sunglasses and beach balls.

Calianna Smith, 6, and Samantha Gordon, 7, were thrilled to catch Santa out of season, with Gordon commenting that it looked like Santa went to the beach.

“It was pretty fun, because we got to meet Santa and swim. I remember once, at a different time, when I was already in the pool, he said that he got all wet from my bathing suit,” Smale said with a laugh.

Manager-on-leave Larry Arner said that Santa — played by John Kistler — inspired a family friend to donate the grand prize giveaway in light of his recent marriage.

“He told everybody, ‘I don’t want any wedding gifts. Donate something to a charity of your choice.’ So, a special family friend wanted to give something in honor of him, and that’s why they bought a family membership for the giveaway,” Larry said.

Even though attendance was a little lower than usual, Christmas cheer was in the air with seasonal music and fun trivia contests.

Of course, when Lee read off a SpongeBob Christmas special trivia question — What do Squidward’s Christmas lights spell out? — Larry had to jump in with his classic pirate impression.

“Well, the captain’s not sure of that, even though I do live down the street from Squidward and SpongeBob. I’ll have to go and check,” Arner said.

Fortunately, one of the attendees knew the answer: “Go Away.”

Lee said that Christmas in July is a great chance to connect with the community and do something fun for the kids, and the attention helps benefit just about everyone.

“It helps big-time. We get a lot of donations, it helps our local community and local organizations get out there, and it puts our name out there. It brings more attendance to the pool, which in turn helps with our revenue to keep costs lower,” he said.

And even though the rain put a bit of a damper on the day, those who made it to the event still had a jolly old time.

“The weather’s not the best, but the people here are die-hards, and they really like it here. That’s why we continue to do stuff like this for our patrons,” Lee said.