Irvington prepares for annual Holiday Tree-Lighting Spectacular

IRVINGTON, NJ — Irvington’s annual Holiday Tree-Lighting Spectacular is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 5 p.m. at the Municipal Building in Civic Square.

The event will feature an appearance by Santa Claus and Santa’s helpers, as well as the usual cast of characters from children’s books, movies and videos, such as Elmo from “Sesame Street” and Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which have become staples at the yearly ceremony. The event will also feature live performances by the Union Avenue Middle School Music Magnet Chorus and the Florence Avenue Elementary School Chorus.

Children who show up early for the Tree-Lighting Spectacular will be able to take a free photo with Santa from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Fire Department Headquarters, adjacent the Municipal Building in Civic Square. The Santa photo shoot is sponsored by the Irvington Springfield Avenue Business Improvement District.

The highlight of the event is expected to be the toy giveaway for children of all ages.

“Our annual tree-lighting ceremony has always been a huge success, where we give out gifts and have a special appearance by Santa to greet the children of the community,” said Mayor Tony Vauss on Tuesday, Nov. 29. “It’s a tradition and we want to continue building on it to make it bigger, better and reach out to even more people. We want everyone to come out and kick off the holiday season in town with us on Dec. 7.”

According to Sgt. Sheyla Zepeda of the Irvington Police Department Community Affairs Department and Luz Carday-Kitsch of the FirsTeam Management group that runs the Irvington Springfield Avenue Business Improvement District, there is still time to make a donation to the Holiday Tree-Lighting Spectacular; to do so, call the Irvington Recreation Department at 973-399-6597 or Zepeda at 973-416-5730.