Pickle Tree Lighting Features Choirs, Santa
°µÍø±¬ÁÏapp’s 17th annual Pickle Tree Lighting, a unique tradition that attracts hundreds of alumni and members of the college community, is Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 5 p.m. on Kerrwood Lawn. The event is free and open to the public.
The Cold Spring’s School Choir will kick off the evening with some Christmas carols from 4:40-5 p.m., followed by °µÍø±¬ÁÏapp’s Ahh Men and Women of °µÍø±¬ÁÏapp. Santa Claus will pose for pictures inside Kerrwood Hall. Hot apple cider and cookies will also be offered.
Following the holiday music and the Pickle Address, a mystery tree lighter will throw down the massive switch that lights the slender 150-foot redwood tree, affectionately known as the Pickle Tree.
Steve Julio ’92, °µÍø±¬ÁÏapp alumnus and professor of biology, will deliver the Pickle Address. Julio earned his doctorate at UC Santa Barbara, where he studied bacterial pathogenesis. He spent two years as a research scientist at a start-up focused on developing cancer vaccines. He returned to UCSB in 2003 to study Bordetella, which causes whooping cough. He returned to °µÍø±¬ÁÏapp in 2006 and continues his work on Bordetella pathogenesis using a combination of genetics, biochemistry and animal models of disease. He researches the bacteria’s ability to colonize respiratory tracts and modulate host immunity and explores why some Bordetella strains infect a variety of mammals but others target only humans. He and his wife, Cheryl, have four daughters.