{"id":422,"date":"2014-12-06T01:55:38","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T01:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=422"},"modified":"2014-12-06T01:55:38","modified_gmt":"2014-12-06T01:55:38","slug":"western-will-celebrate-its-47th-annual-tree-lighting-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/western-will-celebrate-its-47th-annual-tree-lighting-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Western will celebrate its 47th annual tree lighting this year"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jennifer Halley\r\nCampus Life Editor<\/pre>\n
The 47th annual tree lighting ceremony, that has become a holiday tradition to both students and residents of Monmouth, kicks off on Saturday, Dec. 5.<\/p>\n
The longstanding tradition began Nov. 23, 1967, when the 122-foot-tall sequoia tree \u2013 in between Todd and Campbell Halls, was lit for the first time that evening, according to the Lamron, Western\u2019s student newspaper at the time.<\/p>\n
For that first lighting, the tree, which was planted on campus in the late 1800s, consisted of \u201c100 strings of multi-colored lights \u2013 a total of 2,500 bulbs. [It] will be crowned with a lighted star,\u201d the Monmouth Herald said.<\/p>\n
The first tree lighting was conducted by the Monmouth fire department and employees of the Oregon College of Education (OCE), what is now Western. \u201cThey used a \u2018special extension ladder\u2019 to reach the top,\u201d The Monmouth Herald added.<\/p>\n
A couple years after the first lighting, the fire department and Vernon McFarland, an OCE employee, received plaques to honor their hard work and diligence in keeping the tradition alive, even though it had been around for only a few years at that time.<\/p>\n
\"1967_SequoiaTree12\"<\/a><\/p>\n
President Leonard W. Rice, for which Rice Auditorium was named after, was given the opportunity to light to first tree in 1967.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The tree lighting tradition almost came to an abrupt halt in 1993 \u201cwhen college officials announced they could not afford to light the tree, ending a 26-year tradition,\u201d the Statesman Journal said.<\/p>\n
The article continued, \u201cPresident Richard Meyers said state
\nbudget cuts in higher education made the $5,600 expense for lights seem wasteful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Due to the city\u2019s diligent fire department and its dedicated residents, donations were made and enough money was given to allow the tradition to continue.<\/p>\n
Then, an agreement was signed by the fire department and the college that said the college would provide electricity and the fire department would hang the lights for the tree.<\/p>\n
For many students, the tree lighting ceremony signifies what Western is all about.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It] sets a precedent for the rest of the year,\u201d Bryan Kelley, a junior at Western said. He added that the tree symbolizes \u201charmony,\u201d \u201cpeace\u201d and \u201cgood will\u201d for both Western and the community of Monmouth.
\nThe tree also represents what the purpose of the event is: to bring everyone together and to celebrate the holidays as a whole community, said Cheyenne Standing-Elk, senior and director of Student Activities Board at Western.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis event brings school and community together,\u201d Standing-Elk added. \u201cFamilies travel from out of town, family members come together, elementary schools are involved, and even people who live in Independence comes to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each year, according to the Journal in 2000, \u201cWestern traditions have drawn larger and larger crowds every year and serve to unify the student body through the power of their own creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s tree lighting will be Dec. 5 at 6 p.m., with a holiday parade, pictures with Santa, and a bake-off sale, as well as a choir performance in the Pacific Room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How the longstanding tradition has been kept alive throughout the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}