Celebrating Christmas in Rehoboth Beach

A Christmas tree at The Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach is a holiday tradition. This photograph appears to be taken in the early 1990s before the city undertook the years-long Rehoboth Avenue streetscape project. This image also predates the current Bandstand, which was built in 2006. Prior to that, the Bandstand faced the Atlantic Ocean, with the stage located about where the Veterans Memorial is today. The Christmas tree lighting and sing-along tradition began in the 1980s, held every year on Black Friday to kick off the holiday season. This year’s tree, a green giant arborvitae donated by Dean and Debbie Smith, sits in about the same place as the tree in the photograph.