Random Rambler: Murray City Tree Lighting Ceremony

Murray City has been really active on promoting fun social activities for the community. This latest one being a tree lighting ceremony which included hot chocolate, smores, Santa, vendors, fireworks, the tree lighting, the Murray Museum, and what caught my attention and brought us out today, an open house of the newly restored and renovated Murray Theater! The only thing missing, in my opinion, was food trucks. However, there are quite a few restaurant options around Murray City Hall, so I guess that wasn’t necessary.

Quick Details:

Length: We wandered quite a bit today and ended up doing about 2 miles, not including the Murray Theater.
Trail Type: Meander
Difficulty: DR2. It was all flat, and paved.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: We found some inside City Hall, the Murray Theater, the Crow and Pitcher, etc.
Dogs? While generally allowed on public sidewalks, they are not allowed in buildings, and well, it is a crowded and loud event they probably would not enjoy so I would leave them home.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Head down to Murray City Hall (10 East 4800 South), in downtown Murray. Take i15 to 4500 South, head east. Turn right on State Street and head south towards 4800 South. There are a couple parking lots around City Hall, or you can find street side parking.

My nerdy ass wanted to see the newly renovated Murray Theater so we parked on State Street near that.

The Adventure:

Downtown Murray.

Wright Costume.

Day Murray Music. Established 1946.

Additional buildings.

The Murray Theater. It is now owned by the city of Murray. After a decade of restoration efforts, it was finally opened in September this year. They even restored the original sign! More on that in the link above. It was super cool to explore the theater a little bit more than you could/can as a patron.

After that adventure we started making our way over to City Hall on foot. It was not far.

Day Murray Music again.

Again.

Inside. I guess they sell sheet music, and other musical things.

Panoramic of the sign from the sidewalk. It is a little too big to get otherwise from this vantage.

Arlette Day Cultural Arts Center.

Currently empty.

Salty Kitten Tattoo Company. Cute.

The Ballet Centre. From a quick google search, since 1970.

And/or the Costume Centre. Which apparently was previously Wright Costume.

Wright Costume looks a little empty. A friend of mine said there was a a lot of drama regarding Murray selling some of the old downtown buildings to a developer. I wonder if it was this section, and if that is why they moved.

From what I can find the Wrights owned and were trying to save several buildings in downtown Murray. But, as they are getting older, and the buildings are as well, they have decided to let most of them go

The Desert Star Playhouse.

Murray Arts Centre.

The Tea Rose Diner. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about this place, and thought maybe we would have dinner here after the festivities, but eventually decided against it due to the crowd tonight. But we certainly can come back.

The John P. Cahoon House, which is also now part of the Murray Museum. We will explore that more later.

Neat old clock. This reminds me of a similar street clock I have seen in Downtown Salt Lake while visiting the Eccles Theater.

The Cahoon House again. It reminds me a little bit of the Fisher Mansion, but I don’t think it is a Kletting building.

Well look at this cool thing! An old gas lamp! It was originally from the Vine Street Library (from what I can find, it no longer exists). I did not know any old gas lamps existed in the valley. That is really neat!

The tree!

Murray has opted for a wire frame tree instead of a live tree. Honestly, good for them. It looks just fine.

The Murray Museum main entrance. It was not open right now so we wandered around the square and checked out decorations and the vendors.

The tree again.

Again.

A smaller tree.

Fun tunnel. I wish I had come back while it was lit up.

Inside.

The tree again.

Murray City Hall. It is a newer building completed in 2023. As I understand it, it is the 4th iteration of City Hall.

Inside.

Fancy stairs.

Cute tree.

Looks like this is where Santa will be. Those are some fancy chairs!

Well, we had over an hour to kill so we decided to go have a beer at the nearby Crow and Pitcher.

It is starting to get a little busier.

The tunnel thingy again.

The other side of City Hall.

Sunset.

More old buildings in downtown Murray.

Cute lit snowflakes.

The Desert Star again. We went there earlier this year, it’s a hoot.

The windows.

The other side.

Little bit of sunset left.

Wright Costume and Murray Arts Center.

The Crow and Pitcher. Which looks like it may have also been a theater at some point? But I don’t know for sure. That does seem like it would have been a theater too many for the area though.

We had a beer and some snacks, and wasted just enough time to get us back to the Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Oh my! What the heck is that behind the Cahoon Mansion? Oh right right, they have a hot air balloon.

Downtown Murray.

What in the world?

Utah Selfie Museum. My old ass is absolutely rolling my eyes, but a little part of me is slightly intrigued.

The Murray Theater again.

With the fun snowflake decorations again.

More snowflakes.

Day Murray Music.

Why does this window display look familiar?

Oh! Because it’s a recreation of a famous painting turned extremely famous logo called His Master’s Voice (outside link). The symbol has been used internationally on record labels and entertainment retail.

The Arlette Day Cultural Arts Center is now holding a concert of some sort.

The Cahoon Mansion again.

Again.

After buying some cute little Lego sets from a local company called Brickcrafting we settled in to a spot to watch the tree lighting.

We found a spot that offered a nice view, but wasn’t too crowded.

I had an absolutely amazing time tonight, and Murray did an incredible job making something super fun to do. However I am disappointed that they allowed an awful company to prominently display their logo during the ceremony (it was on the balloon, but I digitally removed it because I am not advertising for those assholes), Shame on you Murray, you are better than that.

The tree again.

Eventually the ceremony started with the old fire truck coming down the street sirens blazing.

With some cute lights on it.

Followed by an ambulance.

The trees again.

From our vantage I could not make out who was speaking, or what was being said, but that’s okay. I really don’t like crowds, so I am happier being this far back.

Then the fireworks show started.

Not a bad 5 minute show. Probably the best I have seen outside of July.

More talking I can’t quite hear.

And boom! It’s lit!

Then the smaller ones.

Again.

3 smaller trees.

A Murray Christmas.

Closer.

Again.

One of the walls on the City Hall is lit up as well. It also appears to have animations.

Fun ornament tunnel.

We decided to make our way over the the Murray Museum. They did a late opening this evening. They are definitely not normally open this late.

Fun lights again.

City Hall, it’s fun lit up wall, and the neat tunnel.

We decided to check out the Murray Museum. Which ran a little longer so I decided to make that it's own post.

The neat old clock.

The Desert Star again.

Snowflakes.

The Murray Theater again.

That ended up being a super fun event! Thanks Murray. I really enjoyed the activities, and the neat historic buildings. Plus, it is nice to have a fun small town downtown that has food and drink options. I am only going to remove 1 star for including a horrible vendor, other than that everything was fantastic. 9 out of 10 squirrels.