Skaters dazzle before giant Christmas tree lights up Boston Common
By Beth Treffeisen | December 3, 2015, 21:40 EST
BOSTON – A blustery wind did nothing to damp the spirits of those who packed the area around Boston Common’s Frog Pond Thursday as members of the Skating Club of Boston put on a world-class figure skating performance as part of the city’s celebration of the holiday season.
Following the ice show, Mayor Marty Walsh presided over the 74th annual Christmas tree lighting, drawing a crowd of celebrants, who enjoyed Christmas carolers and other live musical performances. Stephen McNeik, the premier of Canada’s Nova Scotia province, joined Walsh to light up the 49-foot spruce donated by Andrea and William MacEachern of Lorne, Nova Scotia.
This is the 44th year that the province has sent a giant Christmas tree to the people of Boston in thanks for relief efforts following the devastating Dec. 6, 1917, explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax Harbor that killed about 2,000 people in collapsing buildings and fires ashore. Within 24 hours, a train loaded with supplies left Boston for Halifax.