Springfield – The Forest Park Civic Association invites the community to their Annual Tree Lighting at the “X” on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m. Families, children, and neighbors are welcome to meet and warm up before the lighting ceremony at Cafe Christo, 513 Belmont Avenue, for Hot Chocolate & Merriment. Santa will be at Cafe Christo to greet children before the tree lighting and will help us light the tree.
This is a free event, open to all Forest Park neighbors, families, businesses & organizations. The annual holiday celebration is sponsored by the Forest Park Civic Association, Cafe Christo, the Forest Park C-3 Community Policing Team, and the Placanica Family. Special thanks to the Springfield Department of Parks, Buildings & Recreation Management for lighting the tree.
The tree stands on a triangular terrace adopted by the Placanica family in 1997, just one year after the city launched the Adopt-a-Terrace program, in memory of Jimmy and Dora Placanica, former long-time residents of Forest Park. The couple’s daughter, Maria Placanica, and many of her family members have joined the celebration for many past tree lightings. While the tree is enormous, it is not the original tree planted when the triangle was first dedicated. That tree burned after being struck by lightning many years ago and was promptly replaced by the City’s Forestry Division.
