First annual tree lighting ceremony goes off without hitch
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Karla Pomeroy
The Christmas season arrived in full force Friday night with the Trim-A-Tree Lighting Ceremony in Pioneer Square sponsored by RT Communications with assistance from the City of Worland. Fifteen families and organizations decorated trees in the park with lights.
WORLAND – With winter holidays just around the corner, decorating is in full swing to anticipate celebrations. This includes decorating around the town to get everyone in the festive mood. This year, the city was approached with a different process when it came to decorating Pioneer Square.
The first annual Pioneer Square lighting ceremony, sponsored by RT Communications, took place Friday night. This year, a group of 15 families were approached and asked to decorate the trees in Pioneer Square. Each family was put in charge of decorating their own section of the park and was told to bring their own decorations for the park. In order to reach higher places, a bucket truck was provided by Carrell Tree Services. The city provided electricity and the man power in order to make everything work.
The ceremony started at 5 p.m. Friday night, with a much bigger turnout than originally anticipated. Alongside the lighting ceremony, attendees were also able to drink hot cocoa and even get photos with Santa Claus in front of a Christmas backdrop.
For those who had been unable to attend, the ceremony was livestreamed on Facebook, as well.
According to Linda Weeks with RT Communications, the final estimate for attendees of the ceremony was about 300 people. Weeks is anticipating that next year, most of the same families will be participating in decorating Pioneer Square.
Though they're still currently aware of only planning on carrying on this tradition with Pioneer Square, in coming years, it's possible that more families can get included by decorating the trees downtown.
Karla Pomeroy
More than 200 people gathered at Pioneer Square Friday night to watch the lighting of the trees in the park during the RT Trim-A-Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Having been a part of this since the beginning, Weeks has enjoyed seeing families come together to participate in the new, wholesome tradition. She was excited to see so many people come out as well. "I'm very grateful to those families who participated," Weeks said.
Brian Burky with City Hall was happy to see that the ceremony went so well. The turnout had exceeded Burky's expectations and was happy to see it all work well for the community. According to Burky, he looks forward to events in coming years and that the city appreciates the new tradition.
Other upcoming Christmas events around the county will include the parade of lights on Friday at 6 p.m. and breakfast with Santa from 8 to 11 a.m. Alongside this, there will also be the 33rd annual Festival of Trees Dec. 7.
