On December 3rd, Boston celebrated its 74th Annual Official Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Boston Common.
The ceremony was filled with activities and events to keep attendees busy. There were also many vendors giving away free samples of their products, such as eggnog, hot tea, water bottles, and much more. Activities included ice skating, a concert, and the tree lighting itself.
The Boston Common Menorah was also in attendance.
The ice skating show at Frog Pond was the first of the events at the ceremony. Members of the Skating Club of Boston took the rink for a world class figure skating ice show. The event featured both national and international figure skaters all over the Boston area.
Following the ice performance, the event shifted to center stage. Mayor Marty Walsh took the spotlight and accepted the holiday tree from Nova Scotia.
The tree is donated as an annual gift from Nova Scotia, a territory in Canada, in memory of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. The people of Boston rallied support, supplies, volunteers, and other necessities.
Anchor Anthony Everett from WCVB in Boston hosted the live broadcast of the ceremony.
Black Nativity (a Boston-based song-play based on the Gospel of St. Luke and poetry of Langston Hughes), cheerleaders, Michelle Brooks-Thompson (Springfield, MA native and contestant from The Voice season 3), Berklee College of Music’s “Pitch Slapped” (who were also contestants in Season 10 of America’s Got Talent) and many others performed at the event.
The night ended with the lighting of the Christmas tree, which is a 49-foot spruce tree with a burst of fireworks at the Common.