Newmarket is finding ways to keep public Christmas traditions alive in the age of COVID-19, and the tree lighting ceremony on Main Street is no exception.
The Main Street Business Business Improvement Area (BIA) will be going ahead with a tree lighting ceremony that will be streamed on the organization's Facebook page on Friday, Nov. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
According to Jennifer McLachlan, owner of the Cachet Supper Club, the BIA wanted to maintain traditions that mean a lot to the community. So it found a way for the tree lighting to go ahead despite public health restrictions that made it impossible to have a large-scale public event.
"We decided that the tree lighting was one of those important kickoffs to the Christmas season. But due to all the COVID-19 concerns and our desire to safeguard everyone's health, we decided that we could do it virtually," she explained.
Aside from the countdown to the tree lighting, the virtual event will also feature holiday well wishes from the mayor and councillors, a local pianist's performance, and other fun clips.
Unfortunately, there will be no performance by the Newmarket Citizens Band as in previous years because of restrictions on live music performances that use breath-powered instruments such as woodwinds and brass.
The tree lighting itself was filmed ahead of time on Wednesday evening. The initial plan was to broadcast the event live, but after Newmarket was placed under the red control zone, the restrictions on public gatherings meant there would not be enough volunteers on hand to do a live-streamed event.
Nonetheless, McLachlan said they took steps to make sure the stream will feel like a live broadcast as much as possible.
"We were wondering if we should shut the road down or not because we were worried about cars driving by affecting the quality of the speeches. But I said, 'guys, if it were live, cars would be honking.' And so there are cars honking in our video," said McLachlan.
"It feels very, very live. And it has that professional videographer quality. It's so cool."
Friday's broadcast is being made possible by the talents of local YouTuber, LifeWithDusty, who is one of several tech-savvy young people in Newmarket to offer their services to the BIA during the pandemic.
"During the first leg of COVID-19, a lot of millennials reached out to me and offered to do Youtube videos (for BIA programs and events). So now we have this whole bench of talent to draw from," said McLachlan.
