Photos: Hundreds gather for Anchorage’s annual holiday tree lighting downtown

Updated: November 27, 2022 Published: November 27, 2022

People gather in Town Square Park to watch the Holiday Tree Lighting in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

The Anchorage Downtown Partnership’s annual Holiday Tree Lighting event helped kick off the holiday season in downtown Anchorage on Saturday night.

Hundreds gathered to watch Santa Claus light the tree, with help from Mayor Dave Bronson and Harper Wigren, an 8-year-old child chosen from the crowd.

People sipped hot chocolate, watched dance and musical performances and took photographs with Santa Claus and reindeer. See more photos below.

Santa Claus addresses a large crowd gathered at Town Square Park. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Elena, who declined to give her last name, watches as her daughter, Iris, reacts to being placed in a decorative pair of oversized Santa Claus boots before the Holiday Tree Lighting. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Santa Claus counts down as he helps light a holiday tree alongside Mayor Dave Bronson and Harper Wigren, an eight-year-old child chosen from the crowd. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Dancers with Flow Zone Dance Studio perform for a crowd during the Holiday Tree Lighting event on Saturday. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Emily Mesner

Emily Mesner is a former multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.