Macy’s tree lighting at Lenox: new day, same ceremony

This article is from 2015. The 2016 Lenox Square tree lighting is 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016. Details on this and more 2016 Christmas tree lightings around metro Atlanta

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Pressures to open earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving forced Macy’s to move its traditional Lenox Square mall tree lighting ceremony four days earlier to Sunday night, Nov. 22.

The primary problem? Fireworks. By starting the show last year at 5 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. to accommodate earlier store hours, the fireworks were shown at dusk, reducing their visual impact.

So Macy’s decided to go with Sunday, Nov. 22, when the store closes at 7 p.m.

This year, the event will start at 7 p.m. so it will be fully dark by the end of the hourlong show.

“Here’s the bottom line,” said Macy’s spokeswoman Melissa Goff. “Macy’s is all about Christmas. It’s important for us to continue the event.”

Holding the tree lighting on Thanksgiving itself has been an Atlanta tradition for 67 years but not so much in other cities. Goff noted that its Chicago tree lighting is in early November, and in San Francisco, it’s the day after Thanksgiving.

Goff said she believes more people would be able to make the event Sunday night versus Thanksgiving evening.

Indeed, Atlanta ad sales vice president Fred Norris, 48, said he can attend for the first time. "We've never been able to make it because of Thanksgiving dinner with family/friends," he wrote on Facebook. "It could be a new family experience for us. However, from a timing standpoint, the weekend after Thanksgiving would be better. Enough already with the Christmas creep."

Over the years, Macy’s has liked to book Christian acts and those from reality music competition shows to croon Christmas classics. This year is no exception.