Mayor Barlow announces 33rd Annual Tree Lighting Celebration & Fireworks

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Mayor Billy Barlow announced today the 33rd Annual Tree Lighting celebration will be held on Saturday, November 28th, 2020 beginning at 5:00pm with the lighting of the tree at 6:00pm and fireworks being launched from the pedestrian bridge at 6:05pm.  Traditionally, the tree lighting event has been a day-long affair full of activities and entertainment.  Due to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines, the city has cancelled many of the day events.  Instead, beginning at 5:00pm the City of Oswego will live stream a professionally produced program special with live entertainment leading up to the 6:00pm tree lighting. 

“While cancelling the tree lighting event may have been the easiest thing to do, we’ve successfully worked to creatively transition our annual tree lighting celebration into an event that can easily be live-streamed from home and still be exciting,” said Mayor Billy Barlow.  “We still expect to have an evening filled with energy as we decorate our downtown, light our tree, and launch fireworks to appropriately kick off the holiday season in downtown Oswego,” Barlow said.  

The holiday special live stream program will include live musical acts, a magician, dancing and remarks from Mayor Barlow and Santa Claus. All entertainment, the lighting of the tree and firework show will be live streamed using Mayor Billy Barlow’s official Facebook page or the City of Oswego’s Youtube channel.

In addition to the annual tree lighting celebration, throughout December the City of Oswego is hosting a city-wide decorating contest for both residents and businesses, a Christmas Quest contest, a coloring contest, a “Santa Slow Roll” throughout Oswego all in an effort to maintain the holiday spirit despite COVID-19 restrictions, spearheaded by the Oswego Economic Development Office and the Oswego City-County Youth Bureau. 

Director of the Oswego Economic Development Office, Nathan Emmons said, “adjusting our annual tree lighting celebration to a live stream event will give residents a viable option to watch our celebration safely from home, while still celebrating our special tradition.  The tree lighting celebration, with Mayor Barlow’s support, has improved greatly over the years, and by putting in extra effort to still host the event, we continue to grow and improve the event each year.”

Director of the Oswego City-County Youth Bureau, Brian Chetney said, “The annual tree lighting provides an opportunity for the City of Oswego to kick off the holiday season with traditions new and old.  We have a creative team who have put together a festive program focused on our children near and far.  I am thankful to Mayor Barlow and the City of Oswego for being so supportive of programs that benefit our youth and community.”

For more information or details on the upcoming holiday events and activities, please contact the Oswego Economic Development Office at [email protected], 44 East Bridge Street, or 315-908-7479.