The College of Charleston community will celebrate the 32nd Annual Sottile House Tree Lighting Ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017.

Festivities will begin at 4 p.m. at the corner of College Way and Green Way.

The Sottile tree lighting ceremony has been the College’s traditional debut of the holiday season since 1986. When the Sottile family first hung oversized lights from its branches in 1921, it became the first outdoor tree in Charleston to be decorated with electric lights. It drew throngs of spectators for the next 20 years – until the nationwide blackout was mandated following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Forty-five long years later, the grandchildren of J.C. and Alberta Sottile Long finally turned the tree’s lights on again in what was to become the College’s inaugural Sottile House tree lighting ceremony.

RELATED: Learn more about this special CofC tradition.