{"id":2452191,"date":"2019-12-12T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=317590"},"modified":"2019-12-12T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:30:00","slug":"merry-on-midland-tree-lighting-event-in-basalt-set-for-friday-in-lions-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/merry-on-midland-tree-lighting-event-in-basalt-set-for-friday-in-lions-park\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Merry on Midland\u2019 tree lighting event in Basalt set for Friday in Lions Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With another storm rolling through the valley, Friday night\u2019s annual downtown Basalt tree lighting event will have just another level of holiday cheer.<\/p>\n

For Basalt Mayor Jacque Whitsitt, who has been going to the Merry on Midland event for a while, this will be her last of an eight-year run as mayor. Through the years she said it is the kids\u2019 reaction to lights popping on at Lions Park that makes her smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have anything like that when I was growing up,\u201d said Whitsitt, who was raised in Sterling on the Eastern Plains. \u201cHow could a tree lighting be anything but fun? The best part really is the kids go bonkers when the tree lights up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the event is \u201cclassic small town\u201d and a time when many of the longtime residents make their way to downtown.<\/p>\n

David Parker with the Basalt Lions Club said it\u2019s a way for the organization to give back to the community for supporting their cause through the year. This year, the Basalt Lions, which was started in 1957 and focus on eye care for kids, help to sponsor eye screenings for 1,400 preschool and elementary school kids in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our way to say thanks to the community for helping with our other events through the year,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n

He said the club\u2019s big pancake wagon will be there and they also will have free chili, cookies, cider and hot chocolate. Other activities and events include horse-drawn wagon rides, visits with Santa, ornament making (hosted by The Art Base) and performances by the Basalt middle school choir.<\/p>\n

Locals may have noticed the star on Basalt Mountain looks a little brighter this year. Eagle Scout candidate Noah Upton took on refurbishing the star as his Eagle Scout project.<\/p>\n

Hanukkah begins at sundown Dec. 22, and the annual community menorah lighting and Festival of Lights are in Basalt that evening. The Aspen Jewish Congregation will host the event, which starts at 5 p.m. near the fountain at Triangle Park in Willits.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With another storm rolling through the valley, Friday night\u2019s annual downtown Basalt tree lighting event will have just another level of holiday cheer. For Basalt Mayor Jacque Whitsitt, who has been going to the Merry on Midland event for a while, this will be her last of an eight-year run as mayor. Through the years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 02:23:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}