VBC kicks off the holiday season with inaugural tree lighting
Huntsville residents may still be eating their Halloween candy, but Christmas has arrived at the Von Braun Center. The VBC ushered in the holiday season with a Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Friday evening, the first such event hosted by the multipurpose venue.
Samantha Nielsen, director of marketing for the VBC, said the idea for the tree lighting ceremony came from its CEO, Steve Maples.
“The holiday party season at the Von Braun Center gets underway pretty early, and November and December are some of our busiest months of the year as we welcome so many organizations, businesses and families for their holiday celebrations,” Nielsen said. “He thought it would be fun to find a way to officially kick off the holiday event season with something the entire community could enjoy.”
Families sipped hot cocoa and took photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus on Friday evening while Maples welcomed everyone to the event and encouraged them to explore the VBC.
“If you haven’t been in the Von Braun Center – I know you’ve been in the arena – but throughout the VBC, we’ve been doing a lot of renovation work,” he said. “And so many good things are happening here.”
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle led the countdown until the Christmas tree outside Propst Arena was illuminated.
“This is just the kickoff to many, many events for the Christmas season, and we say to each of you, have a great holiday, and let’s take this spirit all the way through next year,” Battle said.
He added, “When we light this tree, we were thinking about doing ‘five, four, three, two, one.’ Why don’t we do it on ‘ho, ho, ho,’ and on the third ‘ho’ we’ll light the tree?”
The crowd gathered outside the arena shouted “Ho, ho, ho!” along with him, and the tree lit up.
The Huntsville Havoc hosted the Macon Mayhem at Propst Arena on Friday night, so hockey fans were greeted by the festivities as they arrived for the game. Chaos and Rukus, the Havoc’s mascots, were on hand to take photos with fans and tree lighting attendees.
Huntsville Havoc mascots pose in front of the newly illuminated Christmas tree outside Propst Arena during the Von Braun Center’s inaugural tree lighting ceremony Friday evening. Photo: Kara Coleman Fields
Madison resident Ronnie Rainney attended the event with his family after his wife saw an announcement about it on social media.
“My wife saw it on Facebook and said, ‘Okay, we’re going to the Von Braun tonight to celebrate the lighting of the Christmas tree, so we came out to see it. It’s pretty cool,” he said. “We didn’t know that the Havoc were playing tonight, so we may take in the game too, on top of seeing the lighting of the Christmas tree.”
This month starts a busy holiday season in the downtown neighborhood. The fifteenth season of Skating in the Park, the outdoor ice rink in front of the Huntsville Museum of Art, is scheduled to kick off Nov. 20 and be open through Jan. 3. The Tinsel Trail, a collection of hundreds of Christmas trees decorated by local businesses and other organizations in Big Spring Park, is scheduled to begin on Black Friday and run through New Year’s Eve.
Nielsen said the VBC team loved the idea of adding another festive element to downtown Huntsville for the Christmas season.
“With Skating in the Park and Tinsel Trail bringing so many people to Big Spring Park throughout the season, we thought a beautiful Christmas tree outside Propst Arena would be a wonderful addition to the view and the overall atmosphere,” she said. “We hope it becomes a new holiday tradition for the VBC and the Huntsville community.”
