Rockingham hosts 12th annual Tree Lighting Ceremony
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
* Updated Christmas time events list
ROCKINGHAM — Christmas carols, hot chocolate and cookies.
Thousands of area children and their families have enjoyed the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony at Cole Plaza over the last 11 years. On Tuesday, Robert Potter helped the tradition stay alive and get better in its 12th year. After all, if an 11-year-old boy can withstand open heart surgery — as Robert, a Rockingham Middle School sixth-grader, did last month — then just about anyone can find a reason to smile during the holiday season.
Robert, his parents Wayne and Hope and some 200 others helped kick off the Christmas season in Rockingham Tuesday night at Cole Plaza. More than 50 members of the L.J. Bell Elementary School choir started the festivities with a series of carols, including “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “Deck the Halls” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Mayor Steve Morris welcomed everyone to the ceremony and acknowledged the choir’s performance.
“Boys and girls, you did great,” Morris beamed.
Morris reminded the crowd that workers from the Seaboard Station Restaurant were ready to serve hot chocolate and cookies — sugar and chocolate chip. He then led the crowd in counting down from 10 to the moment when Robert flipped the switch to light the 42-foot artificial Christmas tree.
Those in attendance clapped with enthusiasm, then the L.J. Bell choir, under the direction of Kacey Matheson, started up again. They ended with “Here We Come a Caroling” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
The lighting of the tree caps city workers’ efforts over the past several days to put up lights, holiday-themed banners and decorate Harrington Square in advance of the 18th annual Christmas on the Square. The one-day festival is set to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in downtown Rockingham.
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