Village of Merrick Park Tree Lighting Ceremony

Photography by Rodrigo Gaya on November 18th, 2013 in Culture, Lifestyle

Coral Gables, FL – November 14, 2013 – The most wonderful time of the year is officially here, as marked by the Village of Merrick Park’s 11th annual tree lighting ceremony. At the heart of the celebration stood a 50-foot tree decorated with more than 50,000 LED lights. On that Thursday evening thousands of locals gathered to see the tree, meet Santa and take in a special performance by the Coral Gables High School Choir. Adding to the festivities were costumed Nutcracker stilt walkers, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and plenty of Santa’s elves. Arts and crafts, like cookie decorating and ornament designing, kept the kids entertained. And speaking of kids, guests were encouraged to bring an unwrapped toy to the event for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation gift drive. Offering a head-start on holiday shopping, stores like Emilio Robba, Carlo Pazolini Athleta and J. Crew provided shopping promos during the event.