By Haylie Kouri –

The View –  

Colorful lights adorned the trees. Carolers sang cheerfully as they walked along the sidewalks in downtown Castle Rock. Piping hot food — from popcorn to hot chocolate to barbecue — tempted the hundreds who arrived to kick off the holiday season at the town’s annual Starlighting.

Junior Cydney Chapman, who moved here from Texas, enjoyed the Nov. 22 festivities.

“I’m glad I live in a town with cool traditions like the Starlighting — not a lot of places have that,” she said. “I also love how they made this year’s star light up different colors. It was a pleasant surprise.”

And sophomore Autumn Dunda, who has come for three years, compared the festivities to “New Year’s for Castle Rock.”

The annual starlighting event brought crowds to celebrate the 78-year-old tradition created during the Great Depression to bring a holiday spirit to a future that looked dismal. The town of Castle Rock decided to put up a star on the rock to symbolize hope for the community to help it get through the hardships of the time.

This annual event now symbolizes the start of the holiday season and a reason to bring together the community.

Throughout the afternoon, activities included choirs singing, horse-drawn carriage rides, drummer boys and booths with food spread out along Wilcox and Perry streets on Nov. 22. The star lit up a little after 5:30 p.m. and the crowd oohed and aahed. Fireworks exploded in the sky, changing colors from green to red to white.

Castle View teacher Jenna Beam, attending for the first time, liked the small-town feel.

Parent Debra Dean agreed.

“The Starlighting is always a great reminder of how special our little town and the people who live in it are,” she said.

Yearbook editor-in-chief Caleigh Gearheart contributed to this article.