Annual tree lighting Saturday to kick off holiday season

[Editor’s Note: In addition to the tree lighting ceremony, numerous other holiday events, including Christmas fairs, festivals, choral events, live nativities, and more are planned for this weekend and in the coming weeks. Be sure to check back here for other stories in the coming days, as well as view the town’s community calendar at www.NewMilfordNow.org/events on a regular basis to keep up to date on happenings. New Milford organizations are strongly encouraged to submit their event(s) to the calendar on a regular basis for an extended reach.] 

By Deborah Rose

The spirit of the holiday season is making its way into New Milford.

The downtown lampposts have been decorated with greens, bows, and white lights, and come Saturday, Nov. 25, the trees on the Village Green will be lighted for the season.

A special guest is scheduled to travel from the North Pole to New Milford to help townspeople ring in the holiday season with the tree lighting ceremony. 

The 5:30 p.m. event is sponsored by the Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re excited for another festive tree-lighting ceremony,” said Chamber Executive Director Bob Reiling. 

“It’s nice that we can unite to turn the lights on and welcome in a holiday season – together – given all that’s going on in the world,” he said. 

Santa will flip the switch, turning on the colored lights strung around the 17 trees put up along the full length of the Green.

After the lighting, Santa will visit with children at the bandstand.

The lighting is always held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, coinciding with Small Business Saturday, a day that encourages people to shop at small businesses.

Reiling said it is an honor for the Chamber to work with the United Methodist Church’s Men’s Club, which has continued the tradition of cutting down, placing and decorating the trees on the Green that was started by Walter Schutte in 1967. 

After Schutte’s death, the tradition was carried on by Frank Landig, the owner of the former Village Hardware, who was affiliated with the New Milford United Methodist Church. Schutte had been an employee at the hardware store.

Over the years, the Men’s Club has worked with Angevine Farm in Warren, where club members cut the trees. After the Town and the club have communicated about tree location – to avoid the Green’s sprinkler system – volunteers spend a day setting up the trees.

Nearly 20 people, including Men’s Club members and friends, came out this year to mount the trees that will be lighted Saturday.

Among those were Men’s Club President Chris Prause, who succeeded the longtime president, the late Dave Kullgren, and three generations of the Williams family – Ralph Williams Jr. Ralph Williams III and Ryan Williams, 7.

“Ralph’s been helping since he was a kid, and now his son is helping,” the eldest Williams proudly related.

Over the years, many people have come from near and far to view the trees.

“This holiday tradition is important for individuals and families, and the Chamber is proud to bring that to the community,” Reiling related.

Williams, who has been involved with the trees on the Green since the 1980s, said what he enjoys most about the club’s holiday project is the “final product of going down the Green and looking at the trees.”

“It’s just awesome,” Williams said.

Reiling agreed, and fondly recalled the excitement he felt as a child when the trees were lighted on the Green because it meant the holidays were closer.

“The excitement continued so much that, even when I had kids, I had to drive down the Green all the time at this time of year so I could see the trees,” Reiling said. “And the kids would ask me, ‘Why do we have to drive down the Green?’”

Williams surmised there is unlikely another New England Green that puts up and lights 17 trees each year.

"I think that’s pretty unique in itself," he said.

Reiling added, “To be part of building memories for others at this time of year is special." 

Deborah Rose/A large crowd flocked to the 2022 tree-lighting ceremony held on the Village Green in New Milford.