One of the city's traditional holiday events has been scheduled for Olathe.
The annual Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting will take place at the Olathe Community Center on East Kansas City Road. The event began over 20 years ago, when the Olathe Noon Optimists sold Christmas trees to raise money to help local children. They expanded their efforts by building a sled, serving cocoa and cookies, and inviting people to meet Santa. The donations they collected at that time were the beginning of the Mayor's Christmas Tree fund.
Although the Optimists no longer sell trees, the celebration became an annual event, and the collection of donations to help support the children continued. It includes a breakfast, held the Friday just before Thanksgiving, to support making donations to the fund.
Residents of Olathe are known for their generosity, and an effort was made to increase support for the tree fund, leading to Mayor Michael Copeland creating a group of “big-hearted bigwigs” in 2007. Once that effort was established, the impact of the fund increased to the point where it is the most successful in the metro area, raising a total of over $1.5m for local children.
The 2020 tree lighting is set for December 4, from 6:00 pm until 8:30 pm. Banner printing is a useful tool for creating holiday decorations for outdoor events like this.
