Submitted and Written by: Rhonda Altonen

On Saturday November 26th, the City of Beacon held their 5th Annual Traditional Tree Lighting Ceremony with entertainment provided by our local area singers, musicians, and dancers for all ages with a big turnout.

The MC duties for the evening were shared by our very own Antonio and Ethan See from Beacon BSA Troop 41 and Olivia Reynolds from Beacon Girl Scout Troop 10459.

To begin the evening's entertainment, Ursula Seymour from School of Rock sang a beautiful rendition of the “The Star-Spangled Banner. Then the dancers from Yanarella School of Dance performed to a mix of Christmas songs. Max Goodhill sang, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas". Ursula returned to the stage with our local BSA and Girl Scout Troops to sing a variety of Christmas songs including "Jingle Bells", "Rudolph", and "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". John Newhall from School of Rock played his guitar and sang wonderful renditions of "Blue Christmas", "Run Rudolph Run", and "White Christmas". Wrapping up the evening all of our entertainers joined Ursula, BHS chorus and our Scouts to welcome Santa in with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

In between performances locally donated prizes were raffled off. Raffles were announced by Tree Lighting Committee Member Atilano (Jr) Rivera, who currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Beacon Elks Lodge #1493. All raffles are free and provided by local Beacon and surrounding businesses. In addition, we had a special booth set up by Simone Williams, owner of All You Knead, where the profits were matched and donated to Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) of Beacon. Ornament and S'mores kits were also given out to kids as a memory of the event.

This year, thanks to Mark Price and the City of Beacon Recreation Department we also had live trees as part of the raffle prizes. These trees would be delivered to the winner’s home, or winners could opt to donate their tree to one of our local parks. Winners who donated their trees are Patti Rock, John Soltish, Robert See, Louis Ballard, Andrea Corlis, Stephanie Gill, and our very own Mayor Lee Kyriacou.

To wrap up the evening, Santa Claus rode in on his big red fire truck driven by our own Lewis Tompkins Hose Co.1 with goodies for the kids and then he listened to all of their Christmas wishes and posed for photos. The audience helped count down and the beautiful tree in Polhill Park was lit, and kids from one to 92 (and even their furry friends) posed for holiday pictures in front of the enormous colorfully lit tree.

The Tree Lighting Committee Members want to thank all of the entertainers who volunteered their time and talents, Mark Price of Beacon Recreation and his team in adding lights to the tree and for setting up the tent, stage and electronics for the ceremony. The Lewis Tompkins Hose Co.1 for their assistance and support, BSA Troop 41 for providing hot chocolate and Beacon Recreation for sugar cookies to all attendees, and the one and only Santa Claus for always making time to come to Beacon. The Tree Lighting Committee Members are Atilano (JR) Rivera, Donna Idema, Rosemary Merhige, Jennifer See, Chris Bopp, Rhonda Altonen, Stephanie Soltish, Bobbie Zappala, Kat Caporale and Kathleen Plumer.

We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to all the following individuals and businesses for donating raffle prizes for the event: