By Adrianna Finch
Assistant Editor
From 6-8 p.m., Dec. 5, in the Bentley Garden, Cameron University held the Annual Tree Lighting ceremony.
Ole Kim, dressed in a Santa costume, stood by the Bentley Garden pond to exchange high fives with visitors before the tree lighting.
Campus Life employees walked around with boxes filled Cameron University ornaments and gave them to visitors before the lighting and throughout the night.
Festivities began with the Cameron Choir singing traditional Christmas songs in front of the tree.
The Dean of students and Ole Kim hit the button to light the tree at 6:30 p.m. as the choir sang “We wish you a Merry Christmas.”
After the tree lighting, carriage rides began and ran until 8:30 p.m.
This year, carriage rides had a different system than previous years; any person who wanted to ride the carriage had to have a ticket to board.
Visitors could not get multiple tickets for family members or friends that were elsewhere; prospective carriage riders had to be present to receive a ticket.
Inside the McMahon Centennial Complex, organizers set up craft tables for visitors to make two different crafts.
The Cameron Computing and Technology department provided a Candy Cane Coding craft table.
Visitors wrote their names on a card provided at the table and then filled in the binary code that coincided with each letter of their names.
Visitors then received a red or white pipe cleaner and a container of beads.
The red beads represented the number one in binary code while the white beads represented zero.
Visitors spelled out their names in binary code on the pipe cleaner to make it look like a candy cane.
The two other tables had foam frames, markers, crayons and stickers for guests to decorate the frames.
The frames had a piece of ribbon at the top for the owners to hang up after they decorated them.
Visitors were encouraged go upstairs and take pictures with Ole Kim to put in their frames, which could then be hung as ornaments.
Sodexo provided catering for the event, which included food and holiday treats, upstairs in the McCasland Ballroom.
They set up two tables featuring popcorn of three different flavors: chocolate, butter, and cheddar.
Another table featured various types of Rice Krispy treats.
Sodexo also provided a hot chocolate station, a coffee station, and a water station.
Also featured at the event were two s’mores stations, with volunteers present at the stations to help children with their snack construction.
Sodexo set up a cookie decorating craft station in the middle of the ballroom for visitors to decorate a gingerbread cookie with icing, marshmallows, colorful cereal, and sprinkles.
At 7 p.m. the Cameron Choir sang more Christmas songs in the McCasland Ballroom while visitors enjoyed treats and warm beverages.
In the Buddy Greenroom, attendees enjoyed entertainment in the form of virtual reality headsets.
From 6:30-7:30 p.m., Ole Kim posed for pictures with visitors in front of the Christmas tree.
For more information about Cameron’s Tree Lighting, contact Campus life at (580) 581-2219.