Baltimore’s iconic marble monument to be lit up for holidays

BALTIMORE (AP) - The iconic marble column known by Baltimore residents as the “original Washington Monument” will be lit up for the holidays in a seasonal event expected to draw as many as 10,000 people.

Revelers on Thursday evening will be treated to holiday cheer and a fireworks finale as strung Christmas lights are lit on the city’s Washington Monument.

There will also be some 40 food vendors, family events, and entertainers including Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians and Morgan State University’s choir.

Now in its 47th year, the monument lighting is a holiday tradition in Baltimore. The event is produced by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

The marble monument in Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon neighborhood was completed in the late 1820s, decades before the much larger Washington Monument was raised in Washington, D.C.