The city of Berlin kicked off the holiday season with the 39th annual lighted parade and tree lighting on Nov. 21. The tree lighting started that night at 5 p.m. Some people have come year after year for the events.

“I have been coming since I was little. The tree lighting is such a cool and beautiful experience,” sophomore from Winneconnie High School Sawyer Schulke said.

Every year Nathan Strong Park is filled with different types of trees, The trees can be bought by community members and can be used for memorials, business advertising, and/or club advertising. Each tree is decorated with their own unique flair. Each tree tells a story.

“I really enjoyed seeing how some loved ones were represented based on their tree and the decorations,” Shulke said.

Following the tree lighting ceremony at the park was the parade. The parade consisted of many different vibrantly lighted floats, advertising spreading different flyers and assorted candy. 

“My favorite part of the parade was the guy dressed as a cob of corn. He was walking around handing out cans of corn. I thought it was funny,” senior from Oshkosh North High School Jayden Hayes said. 

During the parade the floats were playing different Christmas music and the people on the floats were dancing along with the music. The parade and tree lighting come with different perks such as a meet and greet with Santa and Mrs. Clause, hot chocolate, and more.

“My favorite part is getting hot chocolate before, and then watching and seeing all the cool floats. There seemed to be more floats then previous years. It also seemed as if they had tried harder while decorating this year. I plan to continue going when I come back from college,” Berlin High school senior Tatym Haedt said.