Dozens of people gathered in the Brown County Courthouse rotunda Wednesday night to start their holidays with the lighting of the pine tree outside.

"This really kicks off the holiday season," Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt said.

Before heading outside, attendees were greeted with hot chocolate, warm thoughts from city and county officials and essays from area schoolchildren

Fourth- and fifth-graders from Tank Elementary sang two songs about peace.

"I think the peace tree means to me that we should all get along with each other," said 10-year-old Tavonna Hill, a Tank student.

Green Bay Police Officer Dave Schmitz, who brought some of the students from Tank, said the tree "gets us all in that frame of mind — that holiday peace frame of mind," he said.