{"id":71211,"date":"2025-12-15T16:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/71211\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T16:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:37:10","slug":"holiday-spirit-shines-at-john-paul-jones-park-christmas-tree-lighting-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/71211\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday spirit shines at John Paul Jones Park Christmas tree lighting \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Photo-Dec-05-2025-6-39-45-PM.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"Photo Dec 05 2025, 6 39 45 PM\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Carolers entertain families with holiday songs at the rescheduled Bay Ridge Christmas tree lighting at John Paul Jones Park.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Arthur de Gaeta<\/p>\n<p>Holiday lights flickered to life on Dec. 5 at John Paul Jones Park as Bay Ridge residents gathered for the neighborhood\u2019s annual Christmas tree lighting.\n<\/p>\n<p>The ceremony, held around 6 p.m. at the park at 101st Street and Fourth Avenue, followed a brief weather-related rescheduling and brought together families, neighbors and local leaders. The event was organized by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niabklyn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NIA Community Services Network<\/a> with support from Council Member Justin Brannan and state Sen. Andrew Gounardes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235306\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Photo-Dec-05-2025-6-37-19-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\"  \/>State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, Council Member-elect Kayla Santasuosso, Santa Claus and NIA Community Services President Michael Bove during the annual Christmas tree lighting at John Paul Jones Park in Bay Ridge on Dec. 5.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235307\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Photo-Dec-05-2025-6-36-06-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\"  \/>Officials flip the switch to illuminate the towering Christmas tree at John Paul Jones Park.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1981, NIA\u00a0provides programming and human services to children, families, and seniors across more than 40 sites in New York City. The organization runs after-school and youth development programs, senior services, family support initiatives and community events, and is also behind many of the borough\u2019s holiday celebrations, bringing seasonal festivities and community gatherings to neighborhoods throughout Kings County.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers rose from the crowd at the rain-checked lighting as the towering tree was illuminated, casting a warm glow across what\u2019s commonly known as Cannonball Park. Holiday music and caroling filled the air, and Santa Claus delighted children with a surprise appearance.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235308\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Photo-Dec-05-2025-6-36-37-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\"  \/>The tree aglow.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235304\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Photo-Dec-05-2025-6-41-27-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\"  \/>Santa Claus poses with families at John Paul Jones Park during Bay Ridge\u2019s annual Christmas tree lighting.Photo by Arthur de Gaeta<\/p>\n<p>For many in Bay Ridge, the lighting marked more than the flipping of a switch \u2014 it signaled the start of weeks of holiday gatherings and community traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carolers entertain families with holiday songs at the rescheduled Bay Ridge Christmas tree lighting at John Paul Jones&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,157,4619,249,36397,9,24,36398,370,63,20055],"class_list":["post-71211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-entertainment","tag-events","tag-holiday","tag-john-paul-jones-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newsleter","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-tree-lighting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}