Holiday cheer

Columbia College kicks off the holiday season with its 13th annual holiday lighting ceremony on Bass Commons Friday, Dec. 4 at 4:45 p.m.

Columbia College will kick off the holiday season with its annual lighting ceremony on Friday, Dec. 4 on Bass Commons at 4:45 p.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public. More than 4,500 white lights will illuminate the exterior of the Columbia College campus throughout the holiday season.

President Gerald Brouder will welcome the community, and Jonathan Dudley, Student Government Association President, will lead a countdown. At zero, the lights will burst into view (from west to east) on the peaks and gables of Missouri Hall, the Atkins-Holman Student Commons, Dorsey Hall, St. Clair Hall, Launer Auditorium and Hughes Hall.

The lights are the brainchild of Bonnie Brouder, wife of President Brouder, who came up with the idea in 1995. She said she first consulted with the man who lights the Plaza in Kansas City, one of the nation's premier holiday lighting shows. The lights are now permanently installed.