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December 5, 2006
The 48th Annual Carol of Lights Ceremony: Lighting up a Texas Tech Tradition
More than 25,000 orange, red and white lights lit up 13 buildings around Texas Tech University at the culmination of the annual Carol of Lights ceremony.
Written by Gretchen Pressley
It’s hard to imagine Christmas in Lubbock without the traditional bright lights decorating the Texas Tech campus.
This year’s ceremony had a theme of “In the Moment.” As always, the outdoor ceremony started with the traditional carillon concert, followed by the Masked Rider leading in the Saddle Tramps and High Riders in the Saddle Tramps Torch Light Processional.
“It’s a traditional event,” says Alice Scott, administrative assistant to the director of Housing and Residence Life, and an adviser in her 21st year on the Carol of Lights board. “I don’t think much has changed. This is what people look forward to celebrating. We have alumni call us a year ahead of time, just to put the date on their calendars.”
The Texas Tech Trombone Choir, directed by Jim Decker, accompanied the Texas Tech University combined choirs, directed by John Dickson. Gerald Dolter, a professor at the School of Music, sings “O Holy Night,” followed by comments from student organizations and dignitaries. This year, audience members received glow sticks to add to the light display as the lights were turned on across campus.
The evening continued with a carol concert at 8 p.m. in the Hemmle Recital Hall, featuring the University Singers and University Choir.
“Once you see it for the first time, you really want to go back. It marks the beginning of the holiday season for the community,” Scott says, already appropriately dressed for the holiday season in a festive red sweater. “I love seeing the reactions of people who have never seen it before. It’s a spectacular, real ‘ooh-and-ah-y event.”
Preparing for the Holidays
The Carol of Lights Board, made up of Alice Scott, with appointees from the resident halls and student members, started planning this year’s celebration in April.
Alpha Phi Omega and Chi Rho fraternities placed 3,000 luminarias around Memorial Circle to guide visitors to the science quadrangle. Members of the Women’s Service Organization decorated a 20-foot fresh pine wreath hung by the grounds maintenance crew to serve as a festive background for the ceremony. A 38-foot tree graced the center of Memorial Circle.
Grounds maintenance crew members use a bucket truck to lift them to rooftop level.
Perhaps the most important and most time-consuming preparation for the event is the hanging of all 25,000 holiday lights. The grounds maintenance crew from the Texas Tech physical plant started hanging holiday lights in late September.
“It takes us a good two months to get them all up there,” says Kyle Cooper, mechanical superintendent in the Physical Plant, whose team is in charge of hanging the lights each year. “The first time I hear the words Carol of Lights each year, I just think ‘Oh man, we got our work cut out for us.’ But it’s a lot of fun. My group is very skilled at what they do.”
Cooper’s group consists of one professional electrician and at least three temporary workers. They perform three separate checks of all the lights to make sure they are ready for the big night.
“After they’re up, weather conditions and wind are probably the biggest challenges,” Cooper says. “It can blow the day before and really create chaos out here.”
To make sure that all of the lights are working, Cooper’s team checks the lights once before Thanksgiving, once the day before the ceremony and once the day of the ceremony.
“The most exciting thing is when they all come on and none of them are out,” Cooper says with a laugh.
In the beginning, there were no lights
The current Carol of Lights encompasses 25,000 red, orange, and white lights covering 13 buildings. Lights cover buildings ranging from Memorial Circle, to the Engineering Key and the Broadway entrance.
It’s hard for local Lubbock citizens and Texas Tech alumni to imagine Christmas in Lubbock without the traditional bright lights decorating the Texas Tech campus. However, Texas Tech did not always have the holiday spirit that it is known for now.
Back in the 1950s, Dr. Gene Hemmle, a professor in the School of Music, got together with some students from the residence halls. They would go to each hall and sing carols and bring hot chocolate for the occupants, Scott says. As the group got larger, they began to gather around Memorial Circle to sing carols and drink hot chocolate together.
The first official celebration wasn’t until 1959, when Texas Tech arranged for holiday lights to decorate a few of the main buildings around Memorial Circle.
“When [Hemmle] was going around the campus singing carols, I think it brought attention to the lack of lights,” Scott says.
According to last year’s Carol of Lights program, Harold Hinn, former Texas Tech Board of Regents member, came up with the idea to put lights up in honor of the holiday season. He provided the funds to cover the science quadrangle and the administration building with about 5,000 lights. Unfortunately, the first year display did not get the attention such an event warranted because many students had already left for the Christmas break.
The next year, the Residence halls Association conducted a ceremony called Christmas Sing, which, in 1961, was changed to Carol of Lights. In addition to the name change, Texas Tech also brought the total number of Christmas lights to 16,000.
Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, 806-742-2136.
Web layout by Lisa Low