Despite the rain on Sunday evening, members of the SMU community gathered on the main quad for the 32nd annual Celebration of Lights. The event began at 7 p.m., but the quad was swarming by 6:45. People were waiting in lines by the fountain, where members of Student Foundation passed out hot chocolate and warm apple cider as fast as they could.
The program opened with “The Christmas Song.” Stephanie Markman, Student Foundation president, then welcomed the audience. Students, faculty, alumni and other members of the community were invited to participate in this year’s celebration by singing songs of the Christmas season, listening to SMU President R. Gerald Turner read “The Christmas Story,” and then watching the lighting of the Christmas tree and main quad.
The event lasted for just under an hour, but there was more planning and attention to detail than ever.
Mark Agnew, a member of Student Foundation, helped planned this year’s Celebration of Lights.
“We’ve been planning this event all year long. We met every week to talk about the little details,” Agnew said. “All of the members voted on this year’s theme, which was a gingerbread house theme, and we all had a say in the T-shirt design.”
“It’s really different from last year,” Agnew said. “There are all new lights on the pillars and as you can see, there are a lot more lights in general. It’s going to be a lot more spectacular when they do turn all the lights on.”
Throughout the event, groups huddled together to keep warm, while singing along with the performers, and holding their candles.
SMU sophomore Cam Fuller said, “I’m most excited to see the lights and everybody’s reaction!”
Everyone in the crowd seemed to agree with Fuller. When asked what they were looking forward to during this year’s program, people didn’t wait a moment before responding that the lights were the main event.
Wil Danielson, a senior at SMU, was just as excited as the younger crowd.
“It being my third year at SMU, my favorite part is still when the lights come on and everybody cheers. It’s such a great way to spread holiday cheer with my friends and family,” he said.
After singing nearly 10 songs, the audience silenced when the campus events chair Katie Delks announced, “and now for the moment you’ve been waiting for.”
There were 138,000 lights that lit up the SMU campus while performers sang “Silent Night.”
SMU Freshman Meggy Byers said, “I heard about this from everybody! I was so excited to see the lights turn on, and I loved it. I made an ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sound with everyone else when they finally came on.”
This was the fourth Celebration of Lights for Devon Myers, an SMU senior.
“It wasn’t as crowded this year, but I love the Celebration of Lights. It’s a great community activity for Christmas,” she said.
Standing next to Myers, SMU senior Jack Chapman shared in the excitement.
“This is my first time and I really wish I had gone my previous three years here,” Chapman said. “What an awesome tradition that SMU offers. …It’s just so unique and I was proud to have been a part of it this year.”
