Vidant Beaufort Hospital celebrated 30 years of the Lights of Love tree-lighting ceremony Tuesday night.

This year’s event featured the annual lighting on the tree near the south entrance of the hospital, a tree that’s almost as wide as it is tall nowadays. The chorus from John Small Elementary School sang Christmas carols for the outside crowd, and St. John’s Church of Christ Men’s Choir serenaded the line to meet Santa Claus from the hospital lobby.

First- to third-place winners of the annual art contest were announced, as well as the Best in Show award. More than 300 pieces of art were submitted from students throughout the county, with participants ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Lights of Love, which was started in 1985 at the formerly named Beaufort County Hospital, began as a way to remember a loved one during the holiday season and has since grown into a project to raise money for the hospital all year, according to a press release.

The members of the original group that started Lights of Love in 1985 were invited back to celebrate the 30th anniversary.

“The community comes out and engages with the hospital,” said Harvey Case, president of Vidant Beaufort. “It’s just a really good community event.”

The tradition started in 1985 with a tree in John and Doris Langley’s yard. The state was widening U.S. Highway 264 and planned to cut down the tree to make room for construction.

That is, until Sandy Gerard spotted it.

Gerard said she approached John Langley at his grocery store to ask for the tree, and with his blessing, a Christmas tradition was born.

Construction equipment essentially excavated the tree from the Langleys’ yard, and it was carried to the hospital with a police escort, even stopping traffic on Fifth Street, she said.

“It was very appropriate that the hospital saved the tree. Its life got saved by Beaufort County Hospital,” Gerard said.

The Lights of Love organizers then had the problem of finding seed money for the event, which was solved when Elsa Derocher, one of the original organizers, sold her 1976 Malibu station wagon. The hospital’s administrator at the time, Ron Geanes, embraced the idea and modeled it after a similar one in Georgia. According to one former organizer, Marie Brown, who has since passed away, was instrumental in approaching the hospital’s Board of Trustees to get the project approved.

“This Lights of Love ought to work up here because it’s a good community,” Geanes said, recalling his thoughts at the time. “It’s such a tremendous community effort.”

“The hospital embraced it and the community embraced it, and that’s the key,” said Geanes’ wife Jo. “The money had a purpose.”

While the money has gone to different things over the years and is now based on Vidant’s budget, the end goal remains the same, said Pam Shadle, manager of marketing and public relations at Vidant Beaufort.

One of the largest purchases made through Lights of Love when it first began was a ventilator for the hospital, which was purchased in April 1986 and cost almost $16,000.

Now, “donations to Lights of Love are used to fund projects that promote health care education, improve community wellness, support and enhance patient care and provide amenities that make our hospital more comfortable for patients and visitors,” according to a press release.

While the original organizers enjoyed a night of catching up, the program’s original intent of community also remained apparent at the event, as people came from all over the county to celebrate.

“These folks just had an amazing idea 30 years ago,” Shadle said.