In 2015, several downtown merchants on Bothell’s Main Street banded together under the leadership of Nancy Pipinich of State Farm Insurance to bring a community tradition back to life; Bothell’s Tree Lighting Festival on Main Street. Many Main Street businesses joined the festivities to make the evening a night of family fun for everyone.
Creating an event with the goodwill of a few volunteering businesses and funding this project entirely out of our own pockets, we were excited to find what we thought would be a modern, less labor intensive, way more affordable lighting solution: lasers! Test runs looked promising, but we wouldn’t know how this would go until the big night.
Sunday, December 6th was a typical drizzly Northwest evening, but did that dampen the turnout or the spirit of our community? Not one bit. People came out in droves to witness the first Tree Lighting Festival on Main Street in over 30 years! There was merriment, there was caroling, there was cocoa, there were even selfies with Frosty, and Santa Claus arriving in style in a fire truck!
Then came the time for the lighting. The lasers hit the tree. Viewers near and under the tree could see that the effect was really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, viewers that were watching from farther back did not see much of a show. On this rainy evening, the projection was considerably less defined than we had hoped it would be.
When all was said and done it was still a great night of togetherness with our neighbors. Further, it has emblazoned the merchants to push for a grand tree lighting more akin to the past and to find a way to
deck that tree with strands and strands of lights! Right away the fundraising began to bring to this event the resources needed to create a stunning display.
It turns out that Santa has helpers everywhere! Shop keepers, Inn keepers, Business people, folks in Transportation and even helpers at City Hall. Together we did it! Now there are so many lights, we like to say, "You Can See our Tree from Outer Space!" Join us neighbors, come out to see the new and improved rekindling of this holiday tradition!
Thank you everyone for your support and we hope to see you again every year –on the first Sunday in December for Bothell’s Tree Lighting Festival on Main Street!
