By Jada Ojii
SMYRNA, Tenn. -- The town of Smyrna
broke in the holiday season on Nov. 24 with its annual Tree Lighting Ceremony,
which featured a jazz band performance, a kids sing-a-long, and an official
lighting of the Smyrna Town Centre Christmas tree.
The tree lighting in Smyrna drew
well over 100 people to the town’s annual ceremony. Everyone who attended
appeared to enjoy themselves, sipping hot cocoa and nibbling cookies offered at
the event. The Smyrna High School’s jazz band was the main event, with members
of the band performing popular Christmas songs like “Feliz Navidad”, “You’re a
Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.
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| Smyrna High School Jazz Band impresses crowd (Photo by Jada Ojii) |
The kids sing-a-long called for the
children in the room to come to the stage and sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer”, which was very fun and delightful to see. Heather Samson, an
employee at the Smyrna Public Library and volunteer at the event, was head of a
table that passed out crayons, stickers and Christmas cards to the children
there after the performance.
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| Santa and Mrs. Claus greet kids at Smyrna Tree Lighting Ceremony. (Photo by Jada Ojii) |
“It was fun to see the community
come out and everyone looked like they had a good time,” said Samson when asked
about her experience working at the tree lighting.
The event came to an end with a
visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus in a local fire truck. The children there all
cheered for Santa, to which Mr. and Mrs. Claus met with smiles, waving and
hugs. For the finale, a five-second countdown was started for the Christmas
tree’s lights outside of the Town Centre being turned on. The crowd cheered,
and there was an astounding applause as residents of Smyrna and surrounding
areas viewed the festive and fully-lit tree.
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| Fully lit Christmas Tree outside of Smyrna Town Centre. (Photo by Jada Ojii) |
Mike Moss, parks and recreation
director of Smyrna and MTSU alumnus, worked as the coordinator for the event.
He has been working for the town of Smyrna and also helping behind-the-scenes
of the annual tree lighting for all of his 20 years at his job.
“We’re lucky,” said Moss.“We get a
lot of good people to work with, and those people always step up. I get a lot
of volunteers like the high school jazz band and the Spring House Choral Group.
They’re always willing to help in the all of the town of Smyrna departments.”
Heather Samson, an employee at the
Smyrna Public Library and volunteer at the event, was head of a table that
passed out crayons, stickers and Christmas cards to the children there.
“It was fun to see the community
come out and everyone looked like they had a good time.” said Samson when asked
about her experience working at the tree lighting.
To learn more information about the
event, or to check up on when next year’s Tree Lighting Ceremony will take
place, visit: http://www.townofsmyrna.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/1369/20
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