Alabama State Capitol aglow with Christmas tree and lights
Alabama State Capitol Christmas tree is now glowing for the holiday season. (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
Above: Alabama State Capitol Christmas tree is now glowing for the holiday season with 67 stars and 40,000 LED lights. (Karim Shamsi-Basha/Alabama NewsCenter)
Taylor Hicks “White Christmas” and the Alabama State Capitol tree lighting from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
A sunset fit for a movie set hovered over hundreds of people bundled in coats and blankets last night on the Alabama State Capitol steps.
But they weren’t there to watch the sunset.
They were there to usher in the season at the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and to be serenaded by American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and the 151st Army National Guard Band. Gov. Robert Bentley, along with Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, Secretary of State John Merrill and Treasurer Young Boozer, participated.
The Christmas tree, located at the top of the main entrance to the Capitol along Dexter Avenue, is a 35-foot Eastern red cedar grown in Bullock County. It is adorned with about 40,000 LED lights. The tree is decorated with 100 ornaments and 67 stars representing every county in Alabama. Feathers Plantation in Fitzpatrick donated the tree.
The ceremony was followed by a Capitol open house, complete with a Santa Claus for pictures. Every executive branch office on the first floor was open, and the Goat Hill Museum Store offered souvenirs and commemorative items. Visitors were asked to bring an unwrapped gift to donate to Alabama’s foster care system. Alabama’s Heart Gallery was on hand to collect the toys for the hundreds of children it helps place in family homes.
When Hicks performed his version of “Silent Night,” the night was nothing close to silent. The crowd cheered when he was finished, and the National Guard band played some of the season’s favorites. The governor and other state and city officials read passages from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
As the sky turned from flaming orange to darker purple and then to black, and the crowd thinned out, the tree on the Capitol steps stayed lit, marking the season as officially upon us.
