TOMS RIVER – County officials recently ushered in the holiday season but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the annual public Christmas tree-lighting ceremony was not held.
The tree lighting ceremony normally held outside the administration building on Hooper Avenue and Washington Street features school musical groups in the county, speeches by Freeholders and special guests and well wishes for the holiday season.
The event always concludes with refreshments of hot chocolate and cookies inside the building which also includes an interior Christmas Tree.
None of that could happen this year. Out of an abundance of caution due to the coronavirus health crisis, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders rang in the 2020 holiday season with the illumination of 6,000 energy efficient bulbs adorning the 28-foot Norway Spruce at the corner of Washington Street and Hooper Avenue in Downtown Toms River – the county seat.
Ocean County Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari, liaison to the Ocean County Department of Buildings and Grounds, joined Ocean County Freeholder Deputy Director Gary Quinn, Ocean County Freeholder Gerry P. Little and Ocean County Freeholder Virginia E. Haines for a socially distanced gathering in front of the tree outside the Ocean County Administration Building.
