A Spectacular Tree Lighting on Marco

The Christmas Holiday Season has begun in earnest as crowds began assembling at Veteran’s Community Park on Saturday, December 2^nd for the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration. This will be the third year that the Christmas Island Style Committee has returned to the park for this much-anticipated event.

A record crowd met with their neighbors and friends while listening to music and enjoying children dancing and singing on the Unity Bandshell. 

Once again Jim Long served as the Master of Ceremonies and opened the festivities with the patriotic Lee Greenwood song. He then introduced the Chair of Christmas Island Style, Wanda Burson, who welcomed the crowd to the evening’s events, which are sponsored by the volunteer committee.

Residents and visitors were delighted by the wonderful performances supervised by the Island Dance Academy. They also enjoyed a dance performance by the Irish Dance Group who have performed at various events here in Florida and in Ireland itself. The Marco Island Charter Middle School performed during the run-up to the Christmas Tree Lighting which was overseen by Music Director Marty Miller. The entertainment section of the evening was concluded by Marco Island Academy’s Cheerleading Squad to the delight of the attendees.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the much-awaited lighting of the community Christmas Tree. Santa and Mrs. Claus led the crowd in the ceremonial countdown and when they reached the end and the tree lit there wasn’t a disappointed look to be found.

Sandy and George Savary, residents of the island, would best describe their delight with one word, “Spectacular, just spectacular,” said Sandy Savary.