Sven Alskog
News Editor
With winter coming into full fruition outside and the ever-noticeable change in music coming to radio stations everywhere, Idaho State University will be hosting its fourth annual Tree Lighting Festival on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.
The event is put on by the Union Program Council (UPC) and is held at the quad entrance to the Pond Student Union Building (PSUB).
As always the Tree Lighting Festival will be open to anyone with an affiliation with ISU as well as to community members at no charge.
“We invite people from the community so this always tends to be one of our bigger events,” said Kayla Miller of the UPC.
To bring in the holiday spirit there will be carriage rides, an interactive ice sculpture and holiday crafts.
“The ice sculpture is interactive in that you can sit on it and either be on the throne or ride the sleigh,” said Miller.
Ornament giveaways will also highlight the festivities of the night for those who show up, allowing people to take home a memento to remember the night by.
Holiday treats will be available to eat and drink.
“We are expanding our hot chocolate bar because it is always a huge hit,” said Miller.
“We will have candy canes, cinnamon, marshmallows and other assorted fixings,” she added.
Months of work go into making sure events like this go smoothly for Miller and her student colleagues within the UPC, Kaderick Peterson and Jenny Ottaway.
“This is something we work on all year. Like this year we are getting multiple trees rather than one big tree,” said Miller.
The event is paid for out of the UPC budget.
Each year around 1,000 people attend the event including a large amount from the community.
For those who bring their kids, plenty of options will be available to make sure they are kept busy.
Ornament making is expected to be one of the larger attractions for them at the Tree Lighting Festival, with other crafts also be offered throughout the interior of the PSUB.
While the Tree Lighting Festival will take place outside right behind the Bengal tiger in front of the quad entrance to the PSUB, the majority of the activities will take place indoors to keep event-goers out of the elements as much as possible.
The carriage rides do take place outside and are typically one of the more anticipated aspects of the Tree Lighting Festival.
Around 18 people can take part in the carriage rides at a time.
UPC leads many events on campus and has a full slate of activities taking place over the coming weeks and months.
During Dead Week, the organization will be putting on Dead Week Relief in the SUB with activities on Tuesday, Dec. 9, Wednesday, Dec. 10 and Thursday, Dec. 11.
Miller mentioned a harpist, chair massages and snacks being provided as some highlights, with more information to come as the events come nearer.
For those interested in becoming a part of UPC, applications will be available later in the spring semester. These positions involve primarily planning and coordinating events run through UPC each year.
