A cherished singing Christmas tree is celebrating its 40th year in a village in western Michigan.
Standing 15 rows tall and including a 180-student high school choir, the Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree performed 19 holiday songs at a Muskegon theater this week and was scheduled to do two more concerts on Saturday. Loads of greenery and 25,000 LED lights cover the 67-foot (20-meter) tall tree.
“The Singing Christmas Tree is 100% a spectacle,” stated Shawn Lawton, who has been in charge of the yearly performance for thirty years and has coached the Mona Shores High School Choir.
Freshmen are near the bottom of the tall, tree-shaped building, sophomores and juniors are in the middle, and seniors are above them.
The “tree angel,” a student selected by Lawton who “is not your top singer” but has “all the heart,” usually gets the very top, directly beneath the star.
Senior Makenzie Aney, who plays toward the front of the stage at the base of the tree and uses a wheelchair, is this year’s selection.
Aney added, “It makes me real happy and excited and joyful,” in reference to being chosen as this year’s tree angel.
As they perform holiday favorites like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Noel,” and others, Aney and her fellow vocalists are not alone. A tiny army of parents and other volunteers ensures everything runs well both on the ground and in the tree, while a 50-member student orchestra from Mona Shores High surrounds the tree.
For many years, locals have considered the Singing Christmas Tree to be a must-see during the holidays. However, with videos of previous performances available online, it is attracting more and more followers from other states and even other nations.
“It’s become a bucket list item for a lot of people,” Lawton, who is overseeing the performance for the last time, said.
At the conclusion of the academic year, the 58-year-old will retire. In order to facilitate the transfer, his replacement, Brendan Closz, a Mona Shores alumnus who sang in the tree alongside his three siblings, is co-directing the choir this year.
“Being a part of (the show) has been such a reward,” Lawton stated. “And I am going to really miss that.”
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