The community held its first Annual Winter Wonderland Tree Lighting in down- town Moscow’s Friendship Square Dec. 1.
Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert gave a brief speech and then the tree was lit.
The crowd filled with pride for their city and this new tradition.
Jen Pfiffner, a local involved in the tree lighting ceremony, said a tree hadn’t been lit in Moscow for at least 40 years and even then there is not any historical record of previous tree lightings.
Pfiffner said Heather Niccoli proposed the tree lighting idea to the city.
“She remembered it happening a while ago and wanted to see it brought back,” Pfiffner said.
The news of a possible tree spread quickly throughout the community, and locals rallied together to sponsor the event.
“The city, local businesses and just citi- zens, all volunteered to make this possible,” Pfiffner said.
Pfiffner said she hoped that the tree would bring the community together.
Several local businesses downtown con- tributed to the tree lighting and put up their own lights to add to the festivity.
Next to the tree was an extensive thank
you list to all of the sponsors.
In his speech, Lambert also thanked every-
one who came together to create the event. “It wouldn’t have been possible without them,” he said.
A few hundred people watched the lighting in and around Friendship Square, which wrapped the crowd down Main Street.
People gave out warm drinks and slices of pizza. One World Cafe invited people in out of the cold.
Jacob Kramer and Jacelyn Johnson said they were there to start a new holiday tradi- tion with their 14-month-old son James.
“I found out about it from people I knew at Avista, and others who got the tree here, and she found out about it through Face- book so we decided ‘Hey why not,’ and it’s been fun for us as a family,” Kramer said. Johnson said their son enjoyed the tree lighting.
“We just wanted to do something special with him, since this is his first year out, and we’d like to do something like this every year as a family,” Johnson said.
Kramer said the tree lighting brought together many areas of the community.
“I think it’s really nice because Moscow has such a diverse community and this brings out a lot of locals aside from the student population,” Kramer said. “It’s just great to see so many people come together to make this fun.”
Mary Emert can be reached at [email protected]