Want to attend the White House Christmas tree lighting? Enter the lottery

November 2, 5:38 PMNational Parks Recreation ExaminerRandi Minetor

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The White House as seen from the Ellipse
Photo by Nic Minetor

Would you like to see President Barack Obama and his family light the White House Christmas tree for the first time? You can watch the ceremony on the news channels … or you can go and see it in person, if your number comes up in the first-ever lottery drawing for tickets.

This year, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation have introduced a new lottery system, through which the general public can obtain free tickets to the lighting ceremony. The ceremony will take place on the White House Ellipse in Washington, DC, on Thursday, December 3 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

The new online lottery will be available beginning at 12:01 a.m. EST on Wednesday, November 4 (or 11:01 p.m. CST, 10:01 p.m. MST, and 9:01 p.m. PST on Tuesday, November 3). The ticket lottery remains open through 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, November 6 (or 10:59 p.m. CST, 9:59 p.m.
MST, and 8:59 p.m. PST).

To enter, go to www.thenationaltree.org and follow the link to the online ticket lottery application page at www.recreation.gov. People who don’t have computer access may call 877-444-6777 to enter (or 877-833-6777 for TDD) beginning Wednesday, November 4th through Friday, November 6th.

The National Tree Lighting Ceremony website notes, “Once the lottery is completed, ticket lottery seekers who submitted their request via computer will be notified via email. Successful ticket seekers who applied by calling the above-listed number will receive a notice sent via U.S. Mail. All ticket seekers may check the status of their request online or through the call center after closure of the lottery beginning on November 9, 2009.”