For 60th birthday, Elk Grove goes all out for tree lighting

Hundreds of suburbanites eager to listen to classic Chicago music, sit on Santa's lap or see a great light show got a chance to get all three Friday evening at Elk Grove Village's Christmas tree lighting on the Village Green.

The festivities were ushered in by The Buckinghams, a Chicago-based rock group who got their start in the 1960s. Among the songs the band played on the chilly evening were "Kind of a Drag," a song that topped the Billboard Music Charts in January 1967. They followed that up with their rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock," which they released on their 2008 album "The Joy of Christmas," which was sung by the band's drummer Rocky Penn, who told the crowd he lived in Elk Grove for 21 years before joining the band.

After their set, the band's frontman Carl Giammarese led the crowd two count downs, one for the lighting of the huge Christmas tree and surrounding 250,000 lights and the second for the beginning of a massive fireworks show.

The teenagers from The Leo Club dressed as Santa's "volunteer elves" and passed out glow sticks to the children, many of whom were waiting to sit on Santa's lap on stage after the fireworks show.

The development firm Hamilton Partners sponsored the event and the Nielson family donated the 30-foot Colorado blue spruce used as the village's tree.