Harding begins holiday season with lighting ceremony

Harding will hold its annual Christmas lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday. More than 120,000 LED lights make up the display.
Harding will hold its annual Christmas lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday. More than 120,000 LED lights make up the display.

— The annual Christmas lighting ceremony at Harding University is a relatively new holiday tradition, but it has quickly become a favorite for the school’s faculty, staff and students, as well as other Searcy residents.

This year’s lighting ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. Monday as students and others gather on the front lawn to drink hot chocolate and celebrate the season.

Harding President Bruce McLarty will lead a countdown that will culminate with the flipping of a switch to turn on more than 120,000 cascading LED lights.

“This is our 10th annual lighting ceremony,” said Liz Howell, Harding’s vice president of alumni and parent relations. “It’s a wonderful, exciting community event.”

The lighting ceremony began in 2006 after Harding renovated the American Heritage Conference Center on campus. The center’s opening included a lighting ceremony, and a tradition was born.

Monday’s lighting ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the return of students to campus following their Thanksgiving break, providing an official start to the holiday season for those at the university.

“We have received some encouragement to turn the lights on earlier,” Howell said, “but it’s about the students.”

Along with the lights, Harding’s campus also will be decorated with more than 700 Christmas wreaths. Howell credited volunteers, including the Greenkeepers Garden Club of Searcy, for helping with the project. Faculty members, students and other volunteers also joined in the effort.

“We can transform the campus very quickly by working together,” Howell said.

The lights are funded through the university, Howell said. Because the project uses all LED lights, he said, the energy bill for lighting the campus is fairly low.

Howell encouraged the community to attend the lighting ceremony.

“We look forward to guests coming to campus and enjoying the spirit of the season,” he said.

The lights will remain on until the beginning of 2016. For more information on this and other holiday events at Harding, visit www.harding.edu.

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