It’s that time of the year, in case you hadn’t noticed. The tree set to sit under the Arch for the holiday season will travel from Vermont and arrive 4 a.m. Monday, November 28th at Washington Square Park. It will later be adorned with lights and lit in the annual tree lighting ceremony – now in its 92nd year! – complete with a brass band and caroling on Wednesday, December 7th at 6 p.m.
In 1924, the tree featured in the very first Washington Square tree lighting ceremony was planted in the park; this was lauded at the time for being in the spirit of “wise use” and conservation. With all the focus on “sustainability” now, wouldn’t you think this practice would return?
Also, at that time, the words to the carols were projected onto the Arch. Nice, right?
The lights will be lit on the park tree each day between 4 p.m. and 1 a.m. The Washington Square Association, an 110 year old community organization, arranges for the tree and caroling each year.
More music and caroling takes place Christmas Eve December 24th at 5 p.m.
More on this year’s tree lighting and caroling events at Washington Square can be found here.
Image: Cathryn
A note: the follow-up to last week’s blog article on the recent departure of the park administrator and the story behind that hiring got delayed and will appear in the next few days – plus more to come on the “murky” private conservancy’s attempt to grab more turf at the park.