New Harmony Beach Park to host MoBay Christmas Tree

Christmas may be more than a month away but the St James Municipal Corporation is well advanced in its planning for the annual tree lighting ceremony.

Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay, which is normally the site of the well-lit Christmas tree during the Yuletide season, is being bypassed this year. Instead, the Christmas tree will be sited and lit in the newly opened Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay. The event is set for December 13.

"I am pleased to announce that as a result of a partnership between the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the Municipal Corporation, the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony will be relocated to the Harmony Beach Park along Howard Cooke Boulevard and Jimmy Cliff Boulevard," Mayor of Montego Bay, Leeroy Williams, said.

He explained that in comparison to Sam Sharpe Square, Harmony Beach Park provides a venue that is adaptable to observe coronavirus safety measures. The mayor said that Sam Sharpe Square will be given a major facelift for the holiday season.

"The relocation [of the Christmas tree] will allow the Municipal Corporation to spruce up Sam Sharpe Square and divert some of the pedestrian traffic away from the town centre. The electronic billboards will be removed from around the fountain and be placed in a more suitable location. The guard rails will be repaired and repainted and the square will be given a facelift," Williams said.

Councillor Dwight Crawford, chairman of the Civic and Community Affairs Committee of the St James Municipal Corporation, said in keeping with the safety protocols, a small group of persons will be invited for the formalities of the ceremony.

He pointed out that there will also be a virtual component, so that "persons within the social media space can stay at home and enjoy the lighting of the Christmas tree".

"We are looking to make the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony this year better than any other year before. It will also take on a spiritual motivational theme," Crawford said.