SCRANTON, Pa. -- With the flip of a lever, a group of kids ushered in the holiday season!
Hundreds of people cheered on Penn Avenue as they turned on the 480 glowing lights on the Times-Tribune Tower.
“My dad and I have been coming to this for easily 10 years. It's tradition! The night before Thanksgiving, we always come to this. It's just what we do,” Michael Maida of Dunmore said.
The festivities brought in people from as far away as Australia, like Drew Lynett, who was visiting family.
“It's fun because we don't get snow where we live,” Lynett said.
The Electric City was feeling even more electrified after the big firework show.
“It was ecstatic! It was kind of like a firework with all of the excitement. The energy was great,” Rachel Flaherty said.
Once the fun started winding down for the tower lighting, people headed just a few doors down for one of the busiest nights at the bars.
“I mean, basically this whole week I was just thinking about what I was going to do tonight,” Brendan Goughan said.
Goughan was born and raised in Scranton but lives in Washington, D.C. now. On this Thanksgiving Eve, he was among the many who packed into Ale Mary’s hoping to run into old friends.
“I try to come in like once a month, but honestly, this is one of the nights that I just hope I'm going to see people that I haven't seen in a long time,” Goughan said.
It seems the night was all about tradition, whether it was seeing friends for a night on the town or watching the 58th annual lighting of the Times Tower with family.