With the holiday season approaching, the City of Hammond invited the community to celebrate their annual tree lighting ceremony on Friday, November 24. Several families shared a good time with hot chocolate, cookies and a craft creating activity for children prior to the lighting of the Christmas tree.
Aileen Ibarra, special event coordinator for the City of Hammond, is always ecstatic for this event. She believes it’s significant to bringing the community together.
“The most important thing is to be with family and friends, especially at this time in the year,” Ibarra said. “With our tree lighting ceremony, we try to create a welcoming experience for the holiday season.”
According to Ibarra, this is the fourth year of the annual tree lighting ceremony.
“Last year, we incorporated the childrens craft activity inside Hammond City Hall,” Ibarra said. “We hope to be able to grow our audience so that more of the community in this area can come out to make this a family tradition.”
Shortly after the children started making crafts, the City of Hammond began to showcase live reindeer. Families gathered around to take pictures and videos of the reindeer. After no time, the official ceremony to honor the lighting of the tree was underway at 6 p.m.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott led the countdown for the tree lighting, with the help of the children who chimed in for the special moment. McDermott appreciates the way that events such as this ceremony help open arms to all Hammond residents to share a special celebration.
“We make it our goal to offer the residents in Hammond a great quality of life,” McDermott said. “Over the years, that’s something that we’ve taken the most pride in. It’s great to have the community together in front of Hammond City Hall and flip the big switch to turn on the Christmas lights.”
After the switch was turned on, the Christmas tree illuminated the night sky with beams of various colors and a blue star on top.
McDermott noted that he found inspiration to help create a beautiful environment around Hammond City Hall a few years ago. He’s extremely proud of the work that the staff has done to honor the holidays.
“We get new decorations every year,” McDermott said. “We try to add a little bit more to the event each time, including the outline of city hall and the sides too. I’m always challenging my staff and they’ve done a great job once again this year.”
For the remainder of the weekend, McDermott encouraged families to check out the Carden Circus at the Hammond Civic Center.
The City of Hammond was pleased with the turnout once again for this year’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony. They plan to continue thinking of ways to incorporate more special activities for this event in future years.
“I love every part of this event,” Ibarra said. “The holiday season is always super exciting. Being able to see all these children with a smile on their face and families having a great time is rewarding.”
For more information on the City of Hammond, you can visit their website.