MONMOUTH – Western Oregon University’s 40th annual Holiday Tree Lighting marks the beginning of this season’s holiday cheer with the tree lighting festivities beginning at 6 p.m. on the Instructional Technology Center steps on Wednesday, November 28.

The outdoor program begins with a welcome by WOU President John Minahan, Ph.D. The WOU Brass Ensemble and Chamber Singers will perform, led by music professor Solveig Holmquist, as the parade floats make there way to campus. The parade will conclude with a fire truck arriving with Santa.

Along with President Minahan, Mayor of Monmouth John Oberst and Mayor of Independence John McArdle will greet the crowd. The coloring contest and essay winners will be announced. Every year, the Associated Students of Western Oregon University’s Student Activities Board encourages students from Henry Hill Elementary, Monmouth Elementary and Independence Elementary to participate in a coloring and essay contest. The winner of the essay contest will read his or her essay, then light the tree.

Immediately following the tree lighting, the indoor program at Werner University Center will begin. Santa Claus will be available for visits and photos in the Oregon Room, craft areas will be set-up for children, and the WOU Chamber Singers will perform again. In the Pacific Room, the Monmouth Elementary School Choir, Central High School Symphonic Choir and the Central High School Main Street Singers will perform.

At 7:30 p.m., the WOU Wind Ensemble will present an After-Tree-Lighting concert at Rice Auditorium.

The Giant Sequoia was lit briefly as a memorial in the 1940s. In 1967, elementary education major Gayna Meyers sought a decorating alternative when her dormitory, Todd Hall, was not allowed to use lights because of fire restrictions. She made a deal with Fire Chief Donald Milligan that If she could raise money to buy lights, the fire department would help place them on the tree. Meyers led a campus-wide project that raised $300. The day before Thanksgiving she presented Milligan with about 1,500 strung lights. When she returned from the long Thanksgiving weekend, she saw that her efforts were rewarded; the tree was lit for the holidays.

The actual job of stringing the lights on the tree fell to WOU employee Vern McFarland. For several years, he would climb to the top and with a pulley system help guide the lights into place as he shouted to workers below. Vern McFarland retired in 1997 after a long career at WOU as a repairman and locksmith. Workers now use a crane and communicate by radios to carefully place the lights on the tree.

WOU’s annual Holiday Tree Lighting is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Aaron Worley at 503-838-8514.

# # #