Siblings from Simmons, Gwin schools chosen to light Hoover's 2017 official Christmas tree

Two siblings from Simmons Middle School and Gwin Elementary have been selected as the official Christmas tree lighters for the city of Hoover this year.

Claire Manering, an eighth-grader at Simmons, and her 9-year-old brother Carter Manering, a fourth-grader at Gwin, will be the ones flipping the switch to turn on 65,000 lights on the 32-foot-tall Christmas tree outside the Hoover Municipal Center this Thursday night, Nov. 30.

Their mother, Kathy Manering, taught for Hoover City Schools for 17 years before dying in October after an extended battle with breast cancer. Kathy Manering taught the past 10 years at Green Valley Elementary and finished her career as a math teacher. She taught at Rocky Ridge Elementary before that.

Her daughter, Claire, enjoys softball and volleyball, while her son, Carter, plays competitive soccer. They will join Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato for the tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m.

The Bluff Park Elementary School choir is scheduled to sing during the ceremony, and the Spain Park High School jazz band will play before and afterward.

One of the highlights of the evening is the arrival of Santa Claus on a Hoover fire truck. Children will have the opportunity to have pictures taken with Santa and enjoy artificial snow from a snow-blowing machine, city events coordinator Erin Colbaugh said.

The Chick-fil-A at Hoover Commons will provide refreshments and hot chocolate, and the city will hand out commemorative Christmas ornaments with the city’s logo, Colbaugh said.

The program is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and usually lasts about 30 minutes, but people typically hang around and enjoy refreshments, take pictures and socialize for about 1½ hours.

The event is held in the parking lot at the Hoover Municipal Center, with parking available at the Hoover Public Library across Municipal Lane. The library will close at 3 p.m. Thursday to free up parking spaces, and the city will close the portion of Municipal Lane in front of the Municipal Center at the same time to allow for easier street crossing, Colbaugh said.

The Hoover City Council will hold its work session at 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. on Thursday so as not to conflict with the tree lighting.