There could not have been a better way to kick off the holiday season than the 44th Annual Zilker Tree Lighting. More than 1,000 people came out to watch this year’s event and as always, the winners of the Zilker Holiday Tree Drawing Contest flipped the switch to light up the 155 foot tree. This years tree has 39 lines of lights streaming down from the Zilker Park Moon Tower and over 3,300 lights illuminating the Austin Skyline.
Zilker Tree Lighting Ceremony – Not Just Lights
Even though the tree lighting was the main event of the evening, there was also plenty of music and food to help get us all get into the Christmas spirit. The Austin Civic Wind Ensemble had us all tapping our toes to all the holiday tunes and the we all sang along with the elementary school choirs as they performed some holiday classics leading up to the countdown for the tree lighting.
Food
The were plenty of concessions stands lined up around the Zilker tree where you could find everything from turkey legs and roasted corn to funnel cakes and hot chocolate. And of course, what would a Texas Christmas be without some homemade tamales?
Christmas Entertainment
The biggest winner of the night was the freshly made kettle corn. The smells from the kettle corn being churned in the large vats was too much for most to past up. HEB, the biggest sponsor for the event, was also in attendance handing out reindeer ears. Even Santa broke away from his busy schedule to make an appearance.
Missed the Lighting Ceremony? Don’t Miss the Zilker Tree
If you missed the tree lighting ceremony don’t worry, the tree will be lit up every night from 6 pm to 10 p.m. Some of the concessions will still be there as well as a new music and light show called “Flipped on Christmas” starting on December 15th. Make sure to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, head out to Zilker Park and take a spin under the Zilker Tree.
For more info, visit our Flipped on Christmas post.
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