Kicking off the holiday season
Christmas tree lighting draws hundreds to downtown Sydney
The sounds of Christmas music and children enjoying themselves rang throughout downtown Sydney, Friday evening.
The 11th annual Christmas tree lighting, hosted by the Sydney Waterfront District, took place on Charlotte Street between Prince and Pitt streets.
About 400 people attended the event, which featured a special appearance by Santa Claus as well as Christmas music from children choirs, along with hot chocolate, cider and treats.
Alex Martin, owner of the Martin Arms Hotel and the Allure on George bar, participated in the festivities with his family, including his two young children, Jaden and Madison.
“We’ve come to the event every year since my son was born (seven years ago),” said Martin, a Sydney resident. “The children look forward to it as much as they look forward to the Christmas parade, so it’s a tradition for us now.”
“It’s the start of the Christmas season for them, it means they’re kind of excited, they have their Advent calendars out today as well, so the countdown is on.”
As the crowd stood on the street on the chilly evening, patiently waiting for the tree lighting, organizers counted down until finally the Christmas tree, donated by Green Hills Farm in
Albert Bridge, lit up with multicoloured lights, officially kicking off the holiday season.
“I thought it was really cool when it (the tree) was lighting up,” said seven-year-old Jaden Martin, speaking of the moment the tree lights came on. “The best thing about coming is when the tree lights up — it’s really fun to see it.”
Meanwhile, Marilyn Plumridge attended the event on Friday evening with her husband and grandson, Jeremy.
“We have 11 grandchildren and we’ve always enjoyed coming downtown for things like this for a number of years with each of them,” said the Coxheath native. “It’s really nice to be amongst people and to enjoy the choir and to get in the spirit — we always meet friends here, some we haven’t seen for a while, so it’s nice.”
This year, the Sydney Waterfront District launched its Nutcracker Festival, a two-day event which kicked off with the tree lighting ceremony.
“The tree lighting ceremony has evolved over the years and this year we added on with the festival — still keeping with our tree lighting tradition,” said Michelle Wilson, executive director for the Sydney Waterfront District.
“We’ve added a couple more nutcrackers this year, so we have them on display at the event, before they go to their permitted homes (on Charlotte Street) until early January.”
The section of Charlotte Street between Prince and Pitt streets remained closed overnight Friday in preparation for today’s events, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The section of road is expected to reopen around 4 p.m. today.
The event will feature craft and food vendors, live entertainment, children’s activities and food trucks.
Wilson was pleased with the success of Friday’s festivities.
“It’s always a success — we’ve had it rain or shine, I was laughing the other day at some of the weather that we hosted the event in — it’s laugh or cry, but we couldn’t have asked for better weather.”
Along with the Nutcracker Festival today, the annual Sydney Christmas parade will also take place this afternoon, starting at 4 p.m., with the formation at Open Hearth Park.
As for the Martin family, they plan to continue attending the tree lighting ceremony in the future, noting they try to participate in all downtown Sydney events throughout the year.