CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The City of Charleston is set to host a Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Thursday evening, a change from annual events such as the Charleston Christmas Parade.
The city announced new holiday season plans in an attempt to keep citizens safe while also bringing them downtown to support businesses during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The 23-foot tree, from local tree vendor May Tree Farm of Maysville, will be centered in the heart of Slack Plaza, located between Summers and Court Streets, the city said.
Twenty-six additional seven-foot trees, from local tree vendor French Creek Farms of French Creek, will line Brawley Walkway between Capitol Street and Court Street. These trees will be decorated by local businesses and organizations from throughout the city.
“The Christmas tree lighting at Slack Plaza will allow folks to create memories and view trees specially designed by our local businesses and organizations in a socially distant manner,” said Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin.
“These trees will be up throughout the holiday season so that families can view while out holiday shopping or eating at a local restaurant. Instead of a one-day event, this will be a week-long experience.”
Four additional trees will be stationed at the City’s community centers – Kanawha City Community Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, North Charleston Community Center and Roosevelt Neighborhood Center
“These are local trees that people will be able to come down and see in a socially distanced way at their leisure,” Mackenzie Spencer, City of Charleston spokesperson said.
“While they are eating downtown and shopping at our local establishments for the Christmas season.”
The annual parade that took place in the evening last year had to be canceled due to the pandemic.
“Everybody loved it, everyone was begging to have it this year. It shouldn’t have been a hard decision for me to make but it was. I wanted to make sure that our businesses had folks coming downtown but it was just not the responsible thing to do,” Goodwin said of the decision.
The Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Thursday begins at 6 p.m. and will be live-streamed on the City of Charleston, WV Facebook page.