VIDEO: Hopkins Celebrates Christmas Tree Lighting

A crowd filled with the holiday spirit braved Friday’s cold to celebrate Hopkins’ 28th-annual Christmas tree lighting in Downtown Park.

The crowd listened to Christmas carols led by Phillip Brown and the Hopkins High School Choral and Alumni Group then counted down to the tree lighting.

This year’s tree sported a yellow ribbon at its top in honor of the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon group that west metro communities are launching to help service members and their families.

Hopkins police drove Santa Claus to the celebration, where he handed out candy canes to boy and girls young and old. After the tree was lit, everyone headed to the Elks Lodge for hot dogs.

Click on the images below the video to see photos taken by Butch Johnson.

Festivities continue the next week with An Old Fashioned Holiday in Hopkins. The event, which runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 6, fills Hopkins’ downtown with a holiday atmosphere.

Santa arrives at the Hopkins Health and Wellness Center at 5 p.m. Visitors can continue to meet him for pictures and sleigh rides at the Eighth Avenue business. Downtown visitors can also get photos taken with Santa’s reindeer at the Clock Tower.

Raspberry Royalty will be at the Wellness Center to greet visitors. There will be a gingerbread house contest and holiday concert at Albert Pike Lodge. And strolling carolers will serenade visitors throughout the downtown.

Warms beverages will also be available to ward off the chill.

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