Funeral homes, Bell BMW sponsor Newton Memorial Hospital's ‘Festival of Lights'

Newton - The Newton Memorial Hospital Foundation announced that Smith-McCracken Funeral Home and Wood Funeral Home will sponsor the 14th annual Festival of Lights. This community event, signaling the beginning of the holidays in Sussex County, will be held starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Newton Memorial Hospital, 175 High St., Newton. A donor reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the lighting of the Christmas trees. The skies over the hospital will glow with world-renowned Zambelli fireworks, sponsored by Bell BMW. The Festival of Lights will have the largest light display ever with new illuminated sculptures, such as a gingerbread house, a toyshop and ice skaters, along with more than 35,000 lights displayed on the Norway spruce trees that line the Hospital’s main entrance. Proceeds will be dedicated to support construction of the new Charles L. Tice Heart Center for Diagnostic Services currently being erected on the hospital’s grounds. Community members are invited to support the festival by being an illuminator sponsor, donating strings of lights or an entire tree in honor of someone special, in memory of a loved one or just to add beauty to the holiday season. Donors will have their name listed in the tribute book, as well as on a donor board displayed in the Hall of Recognition off the main lobby of the hospital for a full year. A string of lights can be purchased for $30; an entire tree for $200. Various levels of sponsorship are still available. Sponsors received after Nov. 10 will only appear on the donor board. For information, call 973-579-8309.