Marlon Vickerman, Features Writer

The annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at the St. William Grant Park in downtown Kingston yesterday transformed the usually dull venue into place of bright lights, loud laughter with a wonderfully decorated Christmas tree.

Hundreds of Kingston and St. Andrew residents gathered at the event to witness the tree-lighting ceremony attended by Mayor of Kingston, Desmond McKenzie; Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange; Speaker of the House, Delroy Chuck and Spanish Ambassador, Jesús Silva, to name a few.

The night's event saw downtown Kingston coming alive with cheers, applause, friendly chatter and contagious laughter as comedic appearances by Ity and Fancy Cat and musical renditions by Oberlin, Papine and Vauxhall high schools, the Scotiabank and Jamaica Constabulary Force chorales and Men of Valor rocked the house.

Beacon of hope

The nine little 'angels' of the Tivoli Dance Group, well choreographed and attired, danced their way into the audience's heart within their five-minute per-formance slot.

In her address to the gathering, Minister Grange said that the night's ceremony was a beacon of hope for restoring the city to its former glory, a project and vision that will be pursued by the current Government.

"It is because we share this vision and because we realise the urgency of this mission why since taking office we have signed the contract for the rehabilitation of the St. William Grant Park, work on which will commence in the middle of January," she said. "It is because we have this vision why we have also signed the contract for a $160-million transport centre to be built on Water Lane to accommodate the buses and taxis which now clog up the areas around the park. And, it is because we share this vision why we have issued an order preventing any government ministry, department or agency from moving out of downtown Kingston to uptown without Cabinet approval. And they need to have very good reasons to get approval."

The towering tree was lit shortly after 8:00 p.m. with much applause and cheers from the gathering.

marlon.vickerman@gleanerjm.com.