GEORGETOWN — It’s back.

Strike up the band and warm up your pipes to sing: Sussex County will be caroling once again this holiday season.

County officials announced Monday that Georgetown’s Caroling on The Circle will return in early December after last year’s festivities were muted due to the pandemic.

The celebration will be an outdoor-only event, weather permitting, at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 6, around Georgetown’s Circle.

A rain/snow date is not planned.

Each year, Caroling on The Circle serves as the centerpiece to the county’s annual food drive, drawing hundreds of residents — and the support of schools, businesses and civic organizations — who turn out for an evening of Christmas carols and, more importantly, to lend a hand.

While the singalong itself was on hiatus in 2020, the food drive continued and collected more than 15,000 items for distribution to pantries, churches and food banks that feed families in Sussex County.

Organizers are hopeful for a bigger haul this year, as the 38th annual food drive kicks off this week and runs through the end of December. The public is asked to do their part to “Pack the Pod” — a 14-by-7-foot portable storage shed that will be set up at The Circle soon — with donated nonperishables.

In 2019, prior to the pandemic, the drive collected nearly 30,000 items. And since its inception in the 1980s, Caroling on The Circle has raised nearly 750,000 donations.

County Administrator Todd F. Lawson said the festive event brings residents closer, a familiar theme in the past year-and-a-half, as communities have worked together to overcome challenges caused or heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The last couple of years have changed the world in so many ways, right down to our personal routines and how we live our day-to-day lives,” Mr. Lawson said. “What hasn’t changed, though, is that giving spirit that has always been so strong in Sussex County and made this community so special. We didn’t need a pandemic to prove that to ourselves. It’s on display every day in this community, and I’m proud that we are able to continue that tradition with Caroling on The Circle and the Pack the Pod food drive this year.”

As always, the historic Sussex County Courthouse and The Circle will serve as the backdrop for an evening of traditional and Spanish carols, as well as a visit from Santa Claus.

WBOC-TV’s Jimmy Hoppa will emcee this year’s event, which will feature local singers Kevin Short and Ed Shockley. Also joining the performances will be the El Centro Cultural group.

The event is free to attend; participants are asked to bring nonperishable food items for donation.

Food also can be dropped off at the County Administrative Offices, next to the courthouse in Georgetown.

Receptacles will be available outside the complex, allowing the public to make no-contact drops 24 hours a day throughout the season. Staff will routinely collect items and Pack the Pod before delivering food to pantries.

Attendees also are urged to help limit the spread of COVID-19 by following the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information, call 302-855-7700.