Washington Square Park Tree Lighting Ceremony | Madison Square Park Tree & Sphere

Front of the Arch (Ceremony in Background)

Manhattan Parks Commissioner Bill Castro here (in hat)

Breaking Down…

Empty Fountain Plaza

I missed the tree being lit and caught a portion of the caroling. I believe Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer may have been here earlier. Manhattan Parks Commissioner Bill Castro took part in the singing. The Rob Susman Brass Quartet performed (they were quite good). The event is truly fun and festive (meant to get more people shots… anyone who reads this blog knows I can endlessly take photos of the Arch!) but could use just a bit of tweaking. I believe I wrote about this somewhere on this blog at some point but couldn’t find it. So I’ll leave well enough alone (not to be a Scrooge!). And as much as I might think just a few small tweaks would make all the difference, at least it’s not as corporatized and polished as Madison Square Park. (It makes me wonder if there is no middle ground in the Bloomberg era…)

Here are some photos further uptown at 23rd Street, the Madison Square Park blue tree & “sphere” (otherwise known as BuckyBall):

Tagged as: christmas tree, Greenwich Village, madison square park, new york city, parks, tree lighting, washington square park tree lighting