DATE: November 30, 2020 12:05:47 PM CST

Fort Leonard Wood tree lighting to be held virtually

Matt Decker

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 30, 2020) — Fort Leonard Wood’s annual tree-lighting event will be held virtually this year, with audiences invited to view a live-stream of the ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the installation’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fortleonardwoodmissouri.

While Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation had originally planned to hold a scaled-back in-person event with social-distancing and masks, the decision was made Monday to switch to a virtual format due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Missouri.

“We’re basically going to keep the same timeline as we had before; it’s just going to be live-streamed now,” said Eli Wilson, FMWR Community Activities manager.

The tree-lighting event will begin with an invocation, followed by music by the 399th Army Band and the announcement of the winners of this year’s Cards to the Community contest. Santa will make an appearance and read the holiday classic, “The Night Before Christmas.” A Fort Leonard Wood senior leader will then make brief remarks before activating the switch to illuminate the installation Christmas tree.

Holiday lights illuminate the grounds during last year’s tree-lighting event. This year’s event is being held virtually, and is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. It will be livestreamed on the Fort Leonard Wood Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fortleonardwoodmissouri. (Courtesy photo)

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About Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 80,000 military and civilians each year.

Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.

Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.

More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission