Community Christmas Tree Lighting
The Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony began in Hicksville in 1948. The local Rotary Club used the triangular piece of land where West John Street, Broadway, and Jerusalem Avenue intersect. The Rotary Club would cut down a local tree and erect it in the area. The area is still used today and is now known as Kennedy Park.
Intersection of West John, Broadway, and Jerusalem. Kennedy Park is the triangular piece of land. 
Kennedy Park from Google EarthThe Hicksville community held its first public arrival of Santa Claus with a parade through the business section and candy distribution to the children. The first noted Santa Claus was Mid Island Herald's Editor, Fred Noeth. The Businessmen’s Association, later the Chamber of Commerce, started it all. Each year, students from the high school provided the music as Santa rolled up Broadway and took up his station in front of either the Long Island National Bank or the Bank of Hicksville. Children lined up in all directions for hours to greet Santa, who distributed candy gift boxes, assisted by local businessmen. MacPherson Chevrolet was one of the first businesses to support the effort and provided the vehicle. The Police Boys Club also led the arrangements and assisted with the gift distribution.
The Rotary Club, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, were sponsors of the community Christmas tree at the Broadway Railroad crossing at the corner of the parking field by Jerusalem Avenue and the Railroad Depot. The Rotarians sponsored contests for youngsters to guess the number of lights displayed and the footage of electric wire used on the tree. The community lights along Broadway were strung across the road the day after Thanksgiving and the public tree lighting took place the first Saturday in December. There would also be a full schedule of carol singing by local youngsters. The retail division of the Chamber of Commerce employed a full-time professional for the two weeks before Christmas. The professional took up his station in a little house next to the Community Tree at the Railroad crossing and was available daily to hear children express their heart'sdesire.
In 1956, a Santa Float with eight live Alaskan reindeerhitched to Santa’s sled wasmounted on a motorized trailer. It was paraded through the community at the start of the Christmas shopping season at Mid Island Plaza. The parade route ended at Mid Island Plaza with a colorful climax: the lighting of a 75-foot Douglas Fir and scores of smaller trees set in planter boxes along the mall. Carols were sung against a background of unique yuletide decor in the center. After Santa had been officially installed at Gertz, the team of eight reindeer was placed on exhibit for everyone to see. As part of the month-long event, the plazawelcomed local families by exhibiting a menagerie of live animals, including deer, lambs, and donkeys.
Before Mid Island Plaza was enclosed, the area under the metal arch was used to suspend a large, lit multi-color star. The star would
be illuminated each Christmas season, and the large tree, dubbed “Christmas Around the World,” was placed directly under the star. The Plaza celebrated the Christmas season each year with Santa’s arrival by fire truck or helicopter. Today, they have a huge area within the mall designated just for Santa.
In 1960 four men wearing winter attire have a rope tied around an evergreen tree and are hoisting it from the back of a flatbed truck. They are shown lifting the tree into a hole that was dug at the triangle located on Jerusalem Avenue and Broadway. This evergreen was the town's community Christmas tree. Sometime between 1965 and 1996, the community tree lighting was stopped, and it was not restarted as part of the holiday season at Kennedy Park until 1996.
