By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- Getting the downtown Christmas lights up was a little behind schedule this year but they are ready, as usual, in time for the annual Robert Plumb Memorial tree lighting Saturday night.

The downtown lights will come on when the automatic actuator for the regular street lights clicks on Saturday evening.

They were a little late in being strung up because they had been misplaced, but were found in time for the tree lighting, according to village employee Jim Corbett.

The Plumb family and the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce planted a tree in 1985 next to the Clarkson Inn on Main Street to remember the late talented local artist Robert Plumb, and the Plumb Memorial “Light up a Life” Tree lighting has become a community tradition.

That first year, the tree was covered in white bulbs except for three distinct blue bulbs at the top honoring his grandchildren. More than 30 years later, there are now 16 blue light bulbs on the tree, to include spouses of grandchildren and their children as the Plumb family has grown.

The Plumb family, Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley, The Potsdam Chamber of Commerce and The Clarkson Inn invite community members to once again celebrate the tree lighting, at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.

A reception including refreshments and holiday songs performed by students from Potsdam High School will follow at the Clarkson Inn.

For more information contact Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley at 265-3105.