For more than an hour before festivities were scheduled to start at Newport Towne Center on Thursday, kids and parents began to arrive. Although the Christmas music played over speakers, and a small trackless train spun around the square carrying kids, these were only side shows to the main act most kids had come to catch. Parents liked the Victorian carolers and gathered around the stage where this quartet sang. But the kids, nervous and impatient, gathered at the other stage near the as yet unlit Christmas tree, a stage that had a single seat decorated in green and red holiday colors, and a box beside it out of which kids would later take small gifts when Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus finally made their appearing on Dec. 1.
Bundled against a sudden chill wind of the Hudson River, parents and kids filled Newport Town Square to celebrate the 15th annual tree lighting, a ritual, according to Mayor Steven Fulop, that has become the traditional kickoff of the holiday season for many in Jersey City.
Many kids got the chance to tell Santa what they wanted as he held court nearby with the help of a number of elves.
“It is very exciting time of year and Newport has always kicked it off in such a fantastic fashion, making so that the entire family feel energized.” – Mayor Steven Fulop
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Guests were also treated to hot cocoa, coffee, and cookies from Jersey City’s Morton Williams supermarket.
A real community
Each year, Newport Center decorates the park for the holidays, large gift boxes with bows, human sized toy soldiers standing guard over the crisscrossing paths.
For many that attended, the winter wonderland landscape and the towering residential and office buildings that line the waterfront are elements of an extremely successful development. Old timers, along remember how devastated this landscape was even into the early 1990s.
The LeFrak and Newport families helped create a modern urban landscape out of the ruins of a decaying waterfront and industrial area.
With tall buildings towering over the Newport Center park, local officials said this ceremony is part of a two-decades-long effort to rebuild the waterfront.
Newport and the LeFrak families have often been credited as pioneers in helping to redevelop an area that was once in near-complete decay. Fulop praised them for their helping make such celebrations in a newly revived landscape possible. Newport has become defined as a neighborhood in its own right, something that emerged out of the growth of the city’s economic base.
“I want to thank the LeFrak family and the Newport community,” Fulop said. “It is very exciting time of year and Newport has always kicked it off in such a fantastic fashion, making so that the entire family feel energized. I want to highlight that Jersey City is a special place with a great sense of community.”
With his hand firmly gripping the giant light switch, Mayor Fulop, accompanied by Council President Rolando Lavarro and Councilwoman Joyce Watterman, helped officially usher in the 2016 Christmas season.
The event was the culmination of activities for the year, sponsored by the Newport Mall. Activities during the summer for kids, mall officials said, have expanded greatly.
Normally, the tree lighting ceremony also accompanies the opening of the Newport Skates ice rink. But Newport officials said the usually warm weather this year has delayed the opening of the skating rink, and they hope to hold an official opening within a week or so as more seasonal weather returns to the area.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.