Celebrate the culture and holidays of Carmel’s Sister Cities with a special display of holiday trees and information about traditions in Japan, China, Latvia and Italy. The trees are located at the Gazebo on the lawn of Carmel City Hall and will remain there throughout the holiday season.
The idea came from Andris Berzins of the Carmel-Jelgava Sister City Committee, one of Carmel’s newest sister cities, who approached the mayor’s office about displaying a Christmas tree to represent Latvian heritage.
Because the location of the city’s annual Christmas tree was changed from the Gazebo to the Christkindlmarkt, this presented a great opportunity to display Christmas trees to include decorations representing the heritage and culture of Carmel’s four sister cities – Kawachinagano, Osaka, Japan; Xiangyang, Hubei, China, Jelgava, Zemgale, Latvia; and Cortona, Arezzo, Italy. The trees were decorated by each sister city committee and are now on display at the Gazebo by City Hall.
The community is invited to view the festive Christmas trees and learn about each sister city. Click here to learn more about each of Carmel’s Sister Cities.