The 36th Annual H-E-B Tree Lighting ceremony at Travis Park will take place virtually this year as a safety precaution amid the pandemic.
Which What exactly does that mean? It means the ceremony already happened. The pre-taped ceremony will air on H-E-B’s YouTube channel starting at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27. The Christmas tree lights will be illuminated at 7:20 p.m. Mariachi Las Altenas will serve as the musical entertainment.
In normal times, the River Walk lights are lit minutes after the tree lighting ceremony, which kicks off the Ford Holiday River Parade—which, of course, has been canceled. Mayor Ron Nirenberg lit the lights virtually last week.
The 50-foot Concolor Fir hails from Northern Michigan near Lake Michigan. The tree arrived at Travis Park last Tuesday, and crews have been busy decorating it with more than 10,000 red, white, and blue lights, and dozens of handmade ornaments. H-E-B has committed more than $250,000 to transport, decorate and light the tree.
The Christmas tree lighting ceremony used to take place in front of the Alamo. But it was moved in 2017 by city officials to Travis Park’s center and replaced the Confederate monument, which had been removed a few months earlier. Among the reasons for moving the Christmas tree was that Alamo Plaza would be under construction for the master redevelopment. The plan has been suspended. Read the latest from the San Antonio Express-News.
[ Photos by Ben Olivo | Heron ]
Heron Editor Ben Olivo can be reached at 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter
Leave a Reply