Final Preparations for Simultaneous Tree Lighting Ceremony

The final preparations are underway for the annual tree lighting ceremony at Battlefield Park. This year, Coca Cola and National Institute of Culture and History, are partnering with the City Council to ensure that the Coca Cola tree at the Mule Park in front of the Belize Bank at Market Square will also be lit at the same time on Wednesday, December first to kick-start the Christmas season. Today, News Five spoke with Public Relations Manager Erin Garnett from the Belize City Council about what residents can expect during the virtual launch, given the COVID pandemic.

Erin Garnett

Erin Garnett, Public Relations Manager, CitCo

“It is officially a virtual event so we are encouraging residents to watch it from home. I know sometimes residents pass and stop in – we are not going to tell you no – but we are encouraging people to watch it from home. One of the fun facts of this year is that our hosts are two of our youth shadow councillors. You know a big part of our mantra is to bring in young people so we are going to incorporate them and give them the opportunity to show their personalities and get people involved.  We are also going to be having some giveaways. We know and our residents know that this past year and a half has been really rough due to COVID, so we are trying to use this as a shining light. We are all feeling these events, but we want to show that there are things, there is hope; this is a symbol of hope that we have here. People may say it is just a tree, but these little things really make a big difference in the residents’ lives and obviously the kids much as our council looks forward to doing it.”

The tree lighting ceremony starts at seven p.m. on Wednesday and the trees will be up for a month.