Christmas returns to Aurora
Resident's concern leads to renaming of popular annual event

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 30, 2017
Teresa Latchford

Aurora council has agreed to add the word Christmas into the title of the annual tree-lighting ceremony.

In August, local resident David Lisi was upset that his request to add Christmas to the title of the event the year prior had yet to be discussed and wouldn’t be changed in time for this year’s event. His frustration lead him to contact the Aurora Banner.

“Surely you recognize the absurdity and, more importantly, the bigotry in such language,” he said. “When you remove 'Christmas' from 'Christmas tree', you remove the tree’s identity.”

But at a recent council meeting, councillor Harold Kim brought forward a motion that would fulfill Lisi’s request before Santa comes to town.

“Santa is there, we sing Christmas carols, so let’s call it what it is,” councillor Tom Mrakas said.

Councillor Paul Pirri pointed out that there isn’t a need to change it. He also felt that council’s role is to deal with substantial issues and he “isn’t sure this is one of them”.

Kim acknowledged it’s not the norm for council to change the name of an event but it’s such an obvious omission that it should be corrected.

Council agreed the event will now be called Aurora’s annual Christmas Tree-Lighting Ceremony.