3,000 bulbs and counting ... Killarney's Christmas tree of light is unveiled
A giant Redwood tree has been lit with 3,000 light bulbs in Killarney this weekend.
The lights were switched on for Saturday night, a day earlier because of the weather warnings that have been issued in the region.
The 100 ft Redwood is a landmark feature in a famine graveyard in front of the Gothic style St Mary’s Cathedral, the favourite project of the Victorian architect Augustus Pugin.
Tree surgeons Billy Tangney and his crew took almost two weeks to prepare and fit the tree top to bottom with the light weight energy efficient bulbs and they got a hand from transition students at nearby St Brendan’s College.
This is just the third occasion in the past 20 years the 100-year old tree of light has been illuminated.
In 2000 it was fitted with bulbs o mark the millennium to commemorate those who lost their lives in Northern Ireland. Ten years later the tree was lit to remember those who lost their lives on Irish Roads.
This year the blaze of light will simply mark Christmas in Killarney and the massive community effort that goes into the festival which has grown up in the town and which is one of the most successful festivals of its kind anywhere with weekend parades and dozens of events .
Fr Kieran O’Brien, administrator of Killarney Parish said:
“People were talking about how magical it was in the millennium year and it is a very exciting project for all of us to be involved in.”
The tree of light has support from the local chamber of commerce, the council as well as the Diocese of Kerry.
