Santa Claus, children and college students alike, circled around a 30-foot tree in anticipation of the annual tree lighting ceremony Sunday.
As everyone in attendance waited for the lights to be switched on and the holiday season to kick off, they drank hot cocoa, ate candy canes and took pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
“I would say this is by far a record-breaking crowd for us at the tree lighting ceremony,” said Meg McGurk, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. “When you have 70-degree weather at the end of November, that really helps.”
The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership partnered with University Baptist Church to put on the event. The ceremony always takes place at the church’s Memorial Garden.
Mitchell Simpson, pastor of the University Baptist Church, said the town of Chapel Hill provides the tree.
“The town puts it up. They take it down. They pay the light bill,” Simpson said. “Inevitably sometime in the year somebody comes up and says, ‘It’s so nice for your church to provide that tree,’ And we say, ‘Yes it is. Thank you. You’re quite welcome.’”
McGurk said the lights on the tree were made for Chapel Hill. “The lights on the tree, but also the snowflakes that line Franklin Street are all LED lights, so they have that crisp, clear, almost Carolina blue glow,” she said.
At the lighting ceremony, Chapel Hill residents could enjoy free refreshments, but the church did accept donations in return. Simpson said the donations would go to the International Justice Mission, and a donor would match the total donations.
“Every penny goes to an organization in which we have great confidence,” Simpson said. “(International Justice Mission) is a group of people who fight human trafficking everyday.”
