The Covington Square is decorated and ready for the arrival of Santa during Thursday night’s Lighting of the Tree.

Events will begin at 5:30 p.m. with Maddie Bree and New ID performing. The Livingston Elementary School Chorus, Arts Association’s Oxford Little Singers and Oxford Singing Children and Newton County Community Band will each follow.
Then at 6:59 p.m., Santa will arrive to light the Square’s Christmas tree.

The evening will continue with a performance by the Newton County Community Band, a performance of part of the Nutcracker Suite by the Covington Regional Ballet, and performances by First Baptist academy and Peachtree Academy.
The evening will end with the Living Proof Band from Covington First United Methodist Church at 8:05 p.m.

Due to the state-wide drought it was decided to not host the fireworks display during the lighting of the tree, according to Velinda Hardy, Main Street Covington Director.

The City of Covington, which paid $5,000 for the fireworks display, announced during a special called meeting to discuss another topic Tuesday night, that it would have its attorneys review the non-refundable contract. The city said it would look to see if the funding for Thursday night’s fireworks could be shifted to the New Year’s Eve or July 4 celebrations.

“They’ve already burned the courthouse down one time, we don’t want to be responsible for that a second time,” joked Covington City Manager Leigh Anne Knight.