Boston Common Tree Lighting 2023: Canadian Leader Is Special Guest

BOSTON, MA — Boston will light the city's main Christmas tree Thursday evening, and the event will feature a Canadian political leader with ties to the tree.

The 81st Boston Common tree lighting begins at 6 p.m. Thursday with Mayor Michelle Wu and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. The Canadian province has sent Boston a Christmas tree for decades — ever since Boston sent a train filled with emergency supplies to Halifax in 1917 after a munitions disaster.

This year's tree, a 45-foot white spruce, comes from the Christmas Island property of Roddy Townsend and his children, Angela, Carmen and Andrew.

Thursday's lighting will also include music by “America’s Got Talent” finalists Sons of Serendip, singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin, musician Reeny Smith from “Six: The Musical,” singer Michelle Brooks Thompson and country music sister duo Tigirlily Gold.

The event will also feature a lights display across the common and Public Garden, and the lighting of the Commonwealth Avenue mall. The tree lighting festivities run from 6 to 8 p.m.