Rain did not stop the crowds from flocking to the Bailey’s Center Merchants’ Association (BCMA) “Silver Luminary Celebration 25^th Annual” on Friday night. BCMA merchants welcomed their customers, clients and guests with extra festivities to mark the occasion.

After a visit from Santa, Mayor Mick Denham, Vice Mayor Kevin Ruane and members of Sanibel City Council officiated at the Bailey’s Center tree lighting ceremony outside the front entrance of Bailey’s General Store.

“It was great to see our Sanibel dignitaries out there in the rain with Francis Bailey and the rest of the crowd who visited the Bailey’s Center, chanting ‘Light that tree, light that tree!’,” said Richard Johnson, General Manager of Bailey’s General Store.

“Everyone had a great time kicking off the holiday season here at the island’s oldest shopping center.”

Carl Nist-Lund (oboe) and Aislinn Kane (flute) of The Canterbury School in Fort Myers provided live holiday music for carolers and Bailey’s Center visitors.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Sanibel Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.