SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It's officially the start of the holiday season in Old Sacramento with the unveiling of the Christmas tree. It comes to the capital city from Shasta County and is the tallest ever for this area at 65-feet.
This marks a 13-year tradition at the Old Sacramento Waterfront which dazzles crowds of thousands each and every year.
"It is a great tradition and if you've never seen the show before it is an absolutely incredible holiday light show that we put on," said Scott Ford with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.
Families of all sizes visit the area to get in the holiday spirit all while contributing to the local economy.
“We're always happy to keep the dollars local here for the California economy and we ask the community to keep their dollars local when they're shopping this holiday season, so come down to Old Sacramento,” said Ford. “We have over 400 locally owned businesses. When you shop local, two-thirds of every dollar stays in Sacramento."
Carlton Christmas Trees provided this year’s tree -- a tapered white fir -- between 35 and 40-years-old and weighing 12,000 pounds.
"We always love to keep things local, so we called some Christmas tree farms up in Shasta County and Carlton Christmas provided us an amazing tree,” said Ford. “This one is even better than last year.”
The lighting ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving. Visitors can attend the free show at 6 p.m. and enjoy live entertainment with the first 2022 Theatre of Lights performance.
"It is a great tradition and if you've never seen the show before, it is an absolutely incredible holiday light show that we put on,” said Ford.
The tree will shine bright with nearly 24,000 lights, 550 icicles, and 400 strobes. The light show display will take place twice a week starting Sunday, Nov. 27.
