"Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Honourable Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia, will host Boston’s 74th Annual Official Tree Lighting on Boston Common on Thursday, December 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The holiday lights throughout both parks will light up in sequence shortly before 8 p.m. when Mayor Walsh is joined onstage by Premier McNeil, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Santa Claus. The show will close with a pyrotechnic display by MagicFire, Inc.
WCVB TV’s Anthony Everett and JC Monahan will host Channel 5’s live broadcast of the event beginning at 7 p.m. featuring cast members from Elf: The Musical, The Voice contestant Michelle Brooks Thompson, Nova Scotia’s Dave Gunning, Black Nativity, Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical, and Berklee College of Music's co-ed contemporary a cappella group Pitch Slapped.
The holiday decorations throughout Boston Common and the Public Garden include the City of Boston’s official Christmas tree, a 49-foot spruce donated by Andrea and William MacEachern of Lorne in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
The lighting of the trees on the Common is made possible through the generosity of the Egan Family, the
Lynch Family, the Greater Boston Visitors and Convention Bureau, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Boston Bruins Foundation, Diversified Automotive Inc., John Moriarty & Associates, Thomas
A. Kershaw, Steward Health Care System, and contributions from other individuals and institutions.
The annual holiday display includes the official Christmas tree from Nova Scotia and trees throughout Boston Common. Refreshments and additional support will be provided by promotional sponsors Dunkin’ Donuts, DAVIDsTEA, Polar Beverages, H.P. Hood LLC, Capital One 360, L.L. Bean, XFINITY, and Essential Water.
This is the 44th year that Nova Scotia has given a tree to the people of Boston as thanks for relief efforts following the December 6, 1917, explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax Harbor. Within 24 hours of the disaster a train loaded with supplies and emergency personnel was making its way from Boston to Nova Scotia."
