Hundreds of people filled Easton's Centre Square Friday night for the annual Peace Candle lighting.

The actual lighting is just a small part of the event, which also included a mummers band, ice sculptors, a petting zoo, horse-drawn carriage rides and the Easton debut of TubaChristmas.

(The name only tells part of the story, as the group plays Christmas tunes on a variety of brass instruments, including the tuba.)

This year, the candle was lit by Easton resident Cindy Lytle, whose boyfriend, Tom Sestak, won the Easton Holiday Committee's Imperial Illuminator Auction. 

Sestak won an auction to light the candle, but then turned over the honors to Lytle "because he's a gentleman," said Sandy O'Brien Werner of the city's holiday committee.

The committee has been raising money to replace the candle. The tradition may date back to the 1950s, but the candle itself -- James Bond-like -- has been through a few different incarnations.

The current version is 22 years old and fundraising efforts to update it are about halfway to their $25,000 goal, Mayor Sal Panto said Friday.

In addition to the candle lighting, Panto awarded the annual Gretchen Wrenshaw Community Caring Award to Jane Moyer, the longtime librarian and current historian -- at age 100 -- at the Sigal Museum.

Easton often gets a bad rap, Moyer said, adding, "I'm proud of our town. We're full of history!"

"That would be a good slogan for the city," Panto said. "Easton: Full of history."