‘Tis the Season: Holiday Tree Lighting and Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl

Screen shot 2011-12-12 at 10.10.18 AMDominique Zonyee Scott The Holiday Tree last year.

The holiday season officially begins this Sunday. That’s right: the Holiday Tree will be lit at 4 p.m., according to the Tompkins Square Park Conservancy.

Unlike the tree that all the tourists love uptown, ours didn’t have to be chopped down and trucked in: Albert Fabozzi, president of the Tompkins Square Park Neighborhood Coalition, planted the evergreen two decades ago in memory of his boyfriend Glenn Barnett, a victim of A.I.D.S.

The tree lighting isn’t the only bit of holiday cheer this weekend: Saturday a newer tradition, the Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl, kicks off at Village Pourhouse at 3 p.m. $5 gets you $2 beers and two-for-one drinks until 11 p.m.