2019 Christmas tree lighting will be Thursday

By Lynn West

Editor

This year’s New Albany Main Street 2019 Christmas tree lighting ceremony has grown to add other activities and entertainment at the civic center. The Nov. 21 event will also benefit the New Albany Gazette’s Sharing at Christmas program, which provides holiday meals and toys to needy Union County families.

“Christmas on Bankhead” will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Cooper Park with carriage rides, visits with Santa at the New Albany Gazette and hot cocoa available for approximately an hour.

The tree lighting ceremony itself will be at 6:30 p.m. in the park with New Albany fifth-grader Sharon Osorio-Galvez and East Union fifth-grader Daelyn Holloway as the official tree lighters. They were winners in an essay contest to choose the lighters from the city and county school districts.

At 6:35, after the lighting, Santa and his tree-lighter helpers will travel by carriage to the Magnolia Civic Center, accompanied by those who attend the ceremony.

From 6:45-7:45 a Winter Wonderland Workshop will be provided in the Magnolia Room with snacks, ornament making, cookie decorating, a coloring page contest, carriage rides, and more opportunities to visit with Santa.
Live music and entertainment by local performers and artists will be on the Ciné stage from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Monetary and toy donations for Sharing at Christmas, for which contributions are lagging behind, are encouraged and will be taken at the door at the civic center.

While the tree lighting will be Nov. 21, this year’s New Albany Christmas Parade will not be until Monday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m.

The 2019 parade theme is “Let It Snow.” Applications are available at New Albany Main Street, 135 E Bankhead Street, Union County Library, 219 King Street, and online at newalbanymainstreet.com.

For more information about the 2019 Christmas tree lighting, email visitnewalbany@gmail.com or call 662-534-3438.