SCRANTON -- The winter weather didn't stop the annual tower lighting in downtown Scranton.
For the 54th year, the Scranton Times newspaper has holiday lights on it's radio tower, creating the area's tallest Christmas tree.
It's a holiday tradition in the Electric City, but a tradition that took on new meaning this year.
Flipping the switch to turn on the lights was Tiffany Dickson and her two sons, Bryon and Adam.
"We've never had anybody, kind of a special guest or anybody, light the tower before, and we thought, this year, that would be perfect for those two boys to have that opportunity to, hopefully, put something positive into their holiday season," said Scranton Times publisher Matt Haggerty.
This will be the boys first holiday season without their dad.
State Police Corporal Bryon Dickson was murdered in an ambush outside the Blooming Grove barracks in September.
Tiffany Dickson tells Newswatch 16 the family is doing well. She says she's trying as hard as she can to keep busy during the holiday season. That, she says, is what's best for the boys.
Last weekend, she and her sons rode on a float in Scranton's Santa Parade.
On this night, they stood before hundreds of people to help usher in the holidays. A season that will forever be changed for the Dickson family, following the events of September 12.
"You know, it really was a no-brainer in what that whole event has meant to our community. I feel like our community has stood by that family since early September," Haggerty said.
The tower reaches more than 400 feet in the air. It will be lit every evening throughout the holiday season, but never with as much emotion as it was lit tonight.
