Michael Looft, President and CEO of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce, said that last year the Chamber decided that they wanted to light up downtown New Ulm this year.

The trees were provided by A to Zinnia Floral and were placed downtown by members of the New Ulm Education Association, which has been performing this service for many years.

Trees were decorated from First South and Minnesota to Fourth North and Minnesota Street.

“So this year all of the 64 trees in downtown are getting wrapped with solar lights this year by members of the high school and Steel hockey teams,” he said. “And there will be 174 wreaths that we will hang on Monday.”

NUEA (New Ulm Education Association) teachers & their families helped to beautify downtown for the holidays on Sunday. It has been a long-standing tradition of the teacher union to help the Chamber of Commerce and the business community in helping decorate the downtown area of New Ulm with live Christmas trees. A to Zinnia provided the trees and treats for the crew. Front: Neil Lindquist, Kristi Lindquist, Jen Ziemer, Anita Longtin, Ryan Ziemer, Baylor & Bo Ziemer. 2nd row: Mark Goodall, Tammy Goodall, Rob Bute, Kevin Kluis, Garrett Foley, Anna Lee, Amber Lee, Jen Lee, Dan Janke, Angela Hoek, Staci Foley. Molly Kaiser, April Lewandowski, Lilli Lewandowski. Back row: Kevin Maudal, Amy Maudal, Steve Foley, Michelle Hopp, Brian Longtin, Dan Reinhart.

The tree decorating done Sunday by the hockey players and the wreath hanging is a prelude to New Ulm’s official kickoff to the Christmas season this Friday with the Parade of Lights.

“So we wanted to make sure we are decorating the town and kicking off the Christmas season right,” Looft said.

Looft said that the lights were turned on Sunday night.

Members of the New Ulm Steel had a short night preparing for the decorating as they returned to New Ulm at 4 a.m. Sunday morning from a weekend series in Peoria, Illinois.