{"id":49918,"date":"2012-12-19T05:45:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T12:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=49918"},"modified":"2020-06-20T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T01:06:15","slug":"tree-lighting-in-black-diamond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=49918","title":{"rendered":"Tree Lighting in Black Diamond, Alberta"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nLocation:<\/strong><\/em> Black Diamond Community Centre<\/p>\n

Dates:<\/strong><\/em> December 1, 2012. After 5:00pm.<\/p>\n

Cost:<\/strong><\/em> Free\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony<\/a> in New York… nor the lighting of the tree in Trafalgar Square<\/a> in London… or even the Presidential lighting of the tree<\/a> in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n

In fact, I don’t even think the tree is 7-feet tall. <\/p>\n

But, there is pomp, there is a ceremony, and there’s plenty of curbside campfires… Black Diamond style. <\/p>\n

This was the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the town. The lighting part took mere seconds; I blinked, the lights were on, and a lady in an HBC scarf asked, “are we done yet?” before disappearing into the night.<\/p>\n

The pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance was when Santa arrived atop a fire truck. This caused plenty of excitement, yelling and running around. Second to this was the shutting down of side streets, the set up of campfires with drink booths, and street hockey. You can’t get any more Canadian than street fires, beer and hockey.<\/p>\n