ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Allentown Christmas tree is lit and ready for the holiday season.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, PPL Electric Utilities President Steph Raymond and other local figures joined Santa to help light the tree during the "Powering the Season" event in the ArtsPark on Saturday.
- Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, PPL Electric Utilities President Steph Raymond Santa, and other local figures helped light Allentown’s Christmas tree at a celebration Saturday
- The event featured musical performances, horse-drawn carriage rides, face painting and more.
- The mayor’s office hosted a contest for Allentown’s fifth graders to write essays about why they love Allentown. Three students won with essays about how they love the Christmas lights, the events and the local restaurants.
Christmas music in Spanish and English played as residents watched musical performances, went on horse-drawn carriage rides, got their faces painted, drank hot chocolate and made s'mores.
Santa arrived on a firetruck for the lighting ceremony. He greeted children and asked them what they wanted for Christmas.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms mascot MeLVin also joined the festivities, taking pictures with kids and dancing along to the Christmas music.
Essay contest
Tuerk said a new features of this year’s event was the essay contest. The mayor’s office asked all the fifth graders in the city to write an essay about why they love Allentown, then they picked three winners to help them light the Christmas tree.
Tuerk said his office decided to start the contest to help kids get involved in the city.
“We’re always looking to put kids at the center of what we’re doing in the city of Allentown."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
“We’re always looking to put kids at the center of what we’re doing in the city of Allentown,” Tuerk said. “We’re working to constantly make sure our residents are engaged in civic life and that’s one of the things, participating in essay contests and stuff like that.”
Arielys from Roosevelt Elementary won the grand prize for the contest. She said her favorite thing about Allentown is the Christmas lights. She said she wants to be a writer when she grows up; she has already written one page of a book about a kid’s first day of school.
Janiece was another winner of the contest. She said her favorite thing about Allentown is all the events that the city hosts. She said her favorite part of the tree lighting was eating s’mores.
Hailey of Muhlenberg Elementary School was the third winner. Her favorite thing about Allentown is all of the restaurants.
“Allentown has so many great eateries that I love!” Hailey wrote in her essay. “It is a guarantee that I am at Yocco’s every week.”
The city partnered with the Downtown Allentown Business Alliance and PPL Electric Utilities to put on the event.
Check out our full list of holiday events and tree lighting ceremonies around the Lehigh Valley.
