Boston Common Tree Lighting

Mayor Michelle Wu, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and title sponsor The Province of Nova Scotia will host Boston’s signature holiday celebration, the 81st Annual Boston Common Tree Lighting, on Thursday, December 1, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. adjacent to the Visitor’s Information Center at 139 Tremont Street.

WCVB Channel 5’s "CHRONICLE" co-anchors, Anthony Everett and Shayna Seymour, will once again host Channel 5’s live broadcast of the event beginning at 7 p.m. This year’s entertainment includes “America’s Got Talent” finalists Sons of Serendip who formed at Boston University, Award-winning singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin, and powerhouse musician Reeny Smith, from Broadway in Boston the Tony Award-winning “Six: The Musical,” Springfield’s own international award-winning recording artist Michelle Brooks Thompson, and Monument Records’ acclaimed country music sister duo Tigirlily Gold.

The holiday lights throughout both parks will light up in sequence shortly before 8 p.m. when Mayor Wu is joined onstage by Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The show will close with a pyrotechnic display by Pyrotecnico.