City lifts switch on Downtown Manhattan Beach holiday tree lighting celebration
by Mark McDermott
“It’s looking like a full house,” Manhattan Beach Parks and Rec Supervisor Michael Hudak said as he prepared for the Pier Tree Lighting celebration early Wednesday evening.
By “house” he meant all of the downtown, from the pier, where music instructor Kate Crellin conducted the Manhattan Beach Middle School, and the Mira Costa choral groups; up Manhattan Beach Boulevard to Metlox Plaza, where children lined up to talk to Santa; and the length of Manhattan Avenue, where the Dietz Brothers, the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders and holiday carolers performed, reindeer posed for photos and retailers served hot chocolate, churros, chowder, and tomato soup.
The pier was also crowded, with families strolling past 100 live trees on loan from the Living Christmas Tree Company, which rents the trees during the holiday season. The trees are bar coded so families can request the same trees each year.
At 7 p.m., at the foot of the pier, Mayor Hildy Stern’s young neighbor Link Lewis pulled the switch that lit the holiday tree atop the Roundhouse aquarium at the end of the pier. ER