Cincinnati’s official Christmas tree lighting took place Friday night. Though temperatures would be in the 30s, it promised to be a dry evening and I decided to attend. I reached downtown in plenty of time to visit the observation deck on the 49th floor of the Carew Tower. This was the city’s tallest building until the Great American Tower surpassed it in 2010. But, even though the newer tower is taller (665 vs. 574 ft), it sits a bit farther down the river bank and the Carew deck remains, by 79 feet, the highest point in downtown Cincinnati. It overlooks Fountain Square with its ice skating rink in place for the winter. That’s the 1871 Tyler Davidson Fountain at its center and the big green thing at the lower edge of the photo is the 53 foot evergreen that will be lighted shortly after dark.

These four pictures offer glimpses of the view north, east, south, and west. Looking north, WLW-T’s broadcast tower is visible at about a mile and a half distance. To the east, the building with the “tiara” is the aforementioned Great American Tower and that’s the Scripps Center blocking the view of the Great American Ball Park. South of town, the 1866 Roebling Suspension Bridge crosses the Ohio River beyond the PNC Tower and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Slivers of Cincinnati’s two stadiums are just visible at at the edges of the picture. Baseball’s on the left, football on the right. In the fourth picture, the river heads on west and away from the tangle of interstates.

Here’s a picture of the just-out-of-frame Paul Brown Stadium. The iconic Union Terminal is northwest of Carew Tower so was not included in the four directional photos and I’m including a photo of the Roebling Bridge by itself because it is also an icon and because I just want to.

Before leaving the building, I paused on the second floor to check out the Netherland Plaza’s Gingerbread City and a Tribute to the Shillito’s Elves. There’s a gingerbread Roebling Bridge behind that Great American Ball Park. The displayed elves are just a few of the many used in Shillito’s Department Store displays in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. The third picture is of the Carew Tower lobby.

Outside, decorated carriages were lining up next to Fountain Square and the decorated but not yet lighted tree. On the square, skaters were having a great time while the less adventurous strolled through Cincideutsch Christkindlmarkt.

I strolled around the square for awhile myself then headed off for some dinner. When I returned the square was packed and rocking and the countdown was only a few minutes away. To even the score, I grabbed a shot of Carew Tower from beside the fountain

At the end of a rousing countdown, Mayor Cranley threw a switch and I snapped a picture of the freshly lighted tree through the back of the stage. Fireworks were close behind and I snapped a few pictures of those, too, even though I felt kind of silly taking pictures of fireworks that were being shown on the giant video screen right in my line of view.

Tis the season to be jolly.