Coastal Carolina University held its annual Holiday Park Lighting and Market Tuesday, Dec. 3 that illuminated Blanton Park with 30,000 lights of green, sustainable energy to ring in the holiday season.
CCU President Michael Benson addressed the efforts from Sustain Coastal and South Carolina power cooperative Santee Cooper to make this a zero-waste, clean energy event in his speech. The park transformed into a twinkling wonderland for the students, faculty, staff and local community.
“I love seeing all the faculty and staff come here with their families,” Benson said. “Students are in the midst of taking and getting ready for finals and wrapping up class, so it’s good to see them too.”
Sustain Coastal hosted an ornament making station with pinecones and other materials gathered from around campus, cardboard and homemade air-dry clay. Decorating with custom ornaments made from recyclable and compostable materials helps prevent excess holiday waste, according to the organization.
To constitute as a zero-waste event, students working for Sustain Coastal will sort trash from designated receptacle bins to ensure items are disposed of properly, whether that be recycling, compost or trash.
Rylee-Jade Bean, junior sustainability and coastal resilience major, just started working with Sustain Coastal. She was excited to work the holiday market because it’s her favorite event of the year.
“It’s nice to do things like this, to try and divert waste from the landfill and take things more to the recycling plant and the composting center,” Bean said.
In addition to crafting, attendees sipped free hot chocolate, supported small businesses at the market and the opportunity to have their picture taken with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.
