Holiday spirits to light up Misawa

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Lenaha Kidd
  • Air Force Sergeants Association, Chapter 1552
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  Christmas will come early to Misawa as volunteers from the Air Force Sergeant's Association and the Misawa International Club team up for the 14th Annual Holiday Lights Tour on Dec 21. This year the opening ceremony will begin at the civic center at 4:20 p.m. The first bus will take off at 4:30 p.m. with 15-20 minute rotations.

Members of AFSA and the MIC expect to host around 500 local Japanese children and their families to come to Misawa Air Base to tour base housing and enjoy fun and games at the Sollar's Elementary School multi-purpose room.

"We encourage the housing residents on base to decorate their homes so we can show off our American Holiday culture," said Tech. Sgt. Lenaha Kidd, secretary, AFSA Chapter 1552. "The Japanese families thoroughly enjoy seeing the homes decorated for the holidays."

During the tour, families will be bussed around Risner Circle and through a pre-determined route in the main base housing area. At the end of the bus ride the families will be dropped off at Sollar's where they will intermingle and play with American children from the base. Everyone in attendance will be able to enjoy hot cocoa, baked goods, games, crafts, holiday music, and of course--Santa.

In addition to the Holiday Lights Tour, Misawa residents can be entered to win prize money donated by AFSA and gift cards donated by the MIC for the best decorations.

"We really would like to see a lot of participation this year as this has been a tradition for the last 13 years to share our holiday spirit with the local Japanese community," said Kidd. "I think it also makes our families on base feel a little more at home for the holidays."

There will be three categories for Main Base housing area decoration competition: first, second and a tower/balcony category. North Area housing will have two categories: first place and a tower/balcony category.

To sign up, send an email to misawaholidaylights@gmail.com with your name, house number and location.

If anyone has any questions or would like to volunteer for this year's event, contact Staff Sgt. Rowan Coash at rowan.coash@us.af.mil or Kidd at lenaha.kidd@us.af.mil.