As Christmas time rolls around the corner and the cold finally sets in, many Manhattan High students can be found bundled up and enjoying Manhattan’s annual Festival of Lights in Blue Earth Plaza. As the tallest Christmas tree in Kansas lights up downtown, the Christmas spirit seeps into all those who visit.

“I think the music that correlates with the lights on the tree is a big draw-in factor,” junior Neely Joyce said. “I felt very Christmas-y [after].”

The Christmas cheer brought on by the tree lighting is one that many MHS students share.

“I think [opening] night especially is more for the kids and the families because it gives them something fun in Manhattan to do,” junior Kelsey Neufeld said. “I think the rest of it is just to symbolize that Christmas is supposed to be happy, and giving Manhattan a special light to focus around for the holidays is really sweet.”

Small-town mentality is one that plenty of Manhattan residents have, but during the holidays that isn’t such a bad thing.

“It was one of those things that really unified us which was really good I feel like, in this time where everyone is a little uncertain,” Neufeld said.”There was just a lot of holiday cheer and everyone was happy and the Christmas music was playing really loud and it was kind of cold but it wouldn’t be a Christmas tree lighting if it was warm.”

While many students and families visit the tree, not many people get to see behind the scenes of the spectacle that is the Festival of Lights. Senior Gabriella Radina, however, had the inside look.

“My dad owns Radina’s, and we are one of the companies that pays for it so he was working on it for months now,” Radina said. “He was there early that morning and helping to get everything set up and then I went that night with my mom and sister. It’s a really cool [to see] how they put it all together. I got to see the all the debates and there was some tension going on between some things but it’s really cool knowing the people that are on the stage and watching it all be put together.”

Many students like to use the festivities to take a break from the stress of upcoming finals and other troubles.

“I like to go finals week,” Radina said. “I take a break from finals week and I take a look at all the lights and sit down there and it’s just a good way to decompress right before cramming for finals.”