Boston Tree Lights Up
A Lunenburg County Christmas tree will light up the Boston Common today, Dec. 5, continuing a 30-year tradition.
"This event has special meaning for both the people of Boston and the people of Nova Scotia," said Tourism and Culture Minister Rodney MacDonald. "For years we have celebrated our strong cross border friendship at this tree-lighting ceremony and we are proud to be a part of the tradition again this year."
The Boston tree lighting began in 1971, when Nova Scotia offered one of its native evergreens to the people of Boston as a gift of thanks for their help after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
For the first time, the province is partnering with Boston's Parks and Recreation Department to stage the annual event. The ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. (AST) at the Boston Common. This year's 12-metre (40-foot) white spruce came from Allan Veinotte and family in West Northfield, Lunenburg Co.
Boston's affiliate, WCVB-TV, Channel 5 will broadcast a live, hour-long segment of the tree-lighting ceremony from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (AST). Some cable stations in Nova Scotia carry the ABC affiliate.
During the live television broadcast, Nova Scotia will host a six-minute entertainment segment featuring 12 year-old singing sensation Aselin Debison from Glace Bay. Ms. Debison will be joined on stage by pipers, drummers and dancers.
Mr. MacDonald will represent Nova Scotia at the ceremony.
"This annual event also gives Nova Scotia an opportunity to promote our shared history and culture and encourage continued tourism and trade with New Englanders," said Mr. MacDonald.
Representatives from the Department of Tourism and Culture and Destination Halifax will be on hand to meet with Boston's travel trade and meeting and convention planners. In co-operation with Destination Halifax and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Nova Scotia Tourism will also host an on-site consumer promotion, encouraging travel to the province.
This week marks the 85th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion. To commemorate the event, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management is launching two new Web sites. The first, A Vision of Regeneration, is a virtual exhibit showing how Halifax was rebuilt in the years immediately following the disaster.
The archives has partnered with the Halifax Foundation to launch another virtual exhibit, The Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book - A List of Those Who Died. Both sites are accessible from the archives' Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual .
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax is home to a permanent exhibit on the explosion called Halifax Wrecked: The Story of the Halifax Explosion.