100-foot christmas tree - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T08:37:50Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/100-foot+christmas+treeBusiness Spotlight: Shopping for the perfect gift; Downtown Delray Beach — Holiday seasonhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/business-spotlight-shopping-for-the-perfect-gift-downtown-delray-2022-11-02T14:36:42.000Z2022-11-02T14:36:42.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10861001091,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10861001091,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10861001091?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em>Christmas is just weeks away and in downtown Delray Beach, shoppers can buy gifts and enjoy holiday fun on Nov. 25 and 26. They can also get a surfboard ornament by local glass artist Robert Schmidt of Schmidt Stained Glass, if they save their receipts of $200 or more from downtown retailers on those days and turn them in. The ornaments can be picked up from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 26, at Downtown Development Authority booths in front of Sara Campbell, 1051 E. Atlantic Ave., and Global Pursuit, 400 E. Atlantic Ave. Through December, other holiday offerings in downtown Delray Beach include a new Holiday Light Trail, 100-foot Christmas Tree, and the new Yuletide Street Festival as well as parades and fireworks on New Year’s Eve. For more information, visit <a href="https://downtowndelraybeach.com/holidays">https://downtowndelraybeach.com/holidays</a>. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p></div>Delray Beach: City approves new set of policies for eventshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-city-approves-new-set-of-policies-for-events2018-11-28T17:32:29.000Z2018-11-28T17:32:29.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br />Delray Beach is streamlining its special events policy to make it easier for festival organizers to apply and know their public safety costs up front while keeping the focus on hometown events.<br /> City commissioners unanimously approved the revised policy at their Nov. 13 workshop. <br />“We went from an 88-page guidebook to a trifold pamphlet,” acting Assistant City Manager Jeff Goldman told the commission. “We received feedback that we were overbilling and that the process to apply was overly long.”<br /> The new policy will go into effect on Jan. 1. <br /> Goldman said the public safety costs have been streamlined to cover the average salaries of a police officer and a firefighter/paramedic. Previously, the public safety costs could vary by the rank of the police officer and firefighter/paramedic who staffed the event.<br /> Now, the event organizers will know their public safety costs when they apply, Goldman said, unless they make the event larger and need more protection as a result. He worked with Suzanne Fisher, the city’s Parks and Recreation director, to revise the special events policy. <br /> The seven types of events of the past were reduced to three: commercial events that charge admission, community events that are free and athletic events.<br /> Concerts and festivals that charge entrance fees are listed under the commercial events category. Community events are defined as parades, free concerts and festivals, and the GreenMarket. Athletic events include 5K, 10K and marathon races, charity/fitness walks and bike races.<br /> The application fee for all events is $150, which is nonrefundable. The application deadlines are 90 days before the events for commercial and community, and 45 days for athletic events.<br /> Applications for commercial and community events will be processed in 60 days and ones for athletic events in 30 days. Previously, the city had 180 days to process applications for “major events” and parades. The city will take late applications by charging an additional $100 fee. <br /> The city also listed what it considers to be its hometown events. They are: Veterans Day ceremony, Turkey Trot races, Surf Festival, 100-foot Christmas tree and related events, Holiday Parade, First Night, Fourth of July festivities, Kids Fest, Spring Fest/Egg Hunt, National Night Out, Family Fun Day and free Friday concerts on the Old School Square grounds. <br /> The St. Patrick’s Day Parade was not listed, but it will be another city-sponsored event, produced by the city’s Fire and Rescue Department, Goldman said. The March parade will be the 51st.<br /> Goldman and Fisher also strengthened the definition of a nonprofit entity’s application to include providing “detailed information about how the proposed event serves a public purpose to foster an authentic and inspiring community that celebrates our history while building toward the future.”<br /> That should eliminate for-profit companies that masquerade as nonprofits. “We were dealing with nonprofits that did not benefit our community,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said.<br /> The city will subsidize 50 percent of costs to the nonprofits in all three types of events.<br />The application size was reduced to four pages from six and now can be completed online, Goldman said. <br /> For events on the Old School Square grounds, the commission had asked that no events be held on the front lawn between the Cornell Museum and Atlantic Avenue. “It looks junky with cars on the front lawn,” Petrolia said.<br /> Goldman and Fisher will meet with Old School Square staffers to remind them of that requirement while discussing where they can hold the two events that are part of its 10-year lease with the city. <br /> “We will make sure it works for us,” Goldman said. <br /> Commissioners agreed to wipe the slate clean for four nonprofit organizations that owed the city a combined $12,954. In the future, those event producers, regardless of whether they are for-profit or nonprofit, will not be allowed to host an event unless they pay the amount owed to the city.<br /> Event producers also will be asked to follow the city’s green practices that reduce or eliminate the use of plastic and Styrofoam and discourage the use of single-use plastics, such as straws.<br /> In addition, Petrolia asked how the limit of major events to one per month in the previous policy would be accomplished under the revised policy. <br /> “We have the right to say no,” Goldman said.<br /> The City Commission now has approval power over commercial events with recommendations from the Special Events Office and its Technical Advisory Committee, consisting of staff from various departments such as police, fire, parks, code enforcement and public works. That power gave the commission some comfort.<br /> “We need to give our citizens relief” from too many events, said Commissioner Bill Bathurst.</p></div>Delray Beach: Volunteers, memories sought for 25th year of 100-foot treehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-volunteers-memories-sought-for-25th-year-of-100-foot2018-10-31T17:55:19.000Z2018-10-31T17:55:19.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960816061,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="600" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960816061,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960816061?profile=original" /></a><em>Like its predecessor, the year-old 100-foot tree dominates the Delray Beach skyline. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br />The 100-foot Christmas tree went up before Halloween this year, but it’s the same time as last year, said Stephanie Immelman of Grapevine Communications, LLC, the firm in charge of the tree. <br /> Last year, Delray Beach purchased the new tree to replace the rusted structure that annually needed repair and moved the tree location to the east side of the Old School Square grounds. <br /> “We wanted to make sure we had enough time to put it up,” Immelman said.<br /> The tree-construction contractor, Christmas Designers Inc., finished its work in mid-October and will return in early November to build the ice skating rink and fill in the branches, she said.<br /> The city needs volunteers to help assemble the holiday gift shop inside the tree and the interiors of the other gift shops nearby. Volunteers can sign up for shifts during the weeks of Nov. 5 and Nov. 12. <br /> “We will start at 9 a.m. and go to 2 p.m. from Monday through Friday,” Immelman said. <br /> Volunteers can sign up by emailing Tiffany Mazer, the tree’s “volunteer whisperer” and operations manager, at tmazer@delraybeach.com. Lunch will be provided each day.<br /> This year marks the 25th anniversary of the 100-foot tree in Delray Beach.<br /> “We are asking people to tell their tree stories,” Immelman said. <br />Anyone with tree tales can contact Mazer via email and type “tree memories” in the subject line. Photos are welcome. The deadline is Nov. 15. <br /> Entries will be posted on a special website created for the tree, <a href="http://www.100ftchristmastree.com">www.100ftchristmastree.com</a>, and on the tree’s Facebook page. <br /> The 100-foot tree lighting will be Nov. 29, the Thursday after Thanksgiving. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. Santa will light the tree at 7:15 p.m. and will stay around for photos after the tree lighting.<br /> The event is free; nearby activities such as ice skating and the carousel rides have a nominal charge.</p></div>Holidays, with all the trimmingshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/holidays-with-all-the-trimmings2016-11-30T19:18:00.000Z2016-11-30T19:18:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960690879,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960690879,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960690879?profile=original" /></a><em>Roberto Bentez and Roberto Baster, Meisner Electric employees, use a cherry picker</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>to construct the 100-foot Christmas tree at Old School Square on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Building the tree is a monthlong community event that brings together all types of workers and volunteers.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The volunteers check all 15,000 LED light bulbs, fluff over 3,000 branches and attach them to the tree.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p></div>