KANNAPOLIS — Although Halloween hasn’t even passed, some folks in Kannapolis are beginning to work up a real Christmas spirit.

If all goes well, the community will have its first-ever tree-lighting ceremony — on its first very-own Christmas tree — on Nov. 24 at 6 p.m.

A Matthews company was scheduled to begin moving the tree — a 24-foot white spruce — this morning from a vacant lot on North Cannon Boulevard to Cannon Village.

Citizens Bank donated the tree, and Atlantic American Properties is paying to move it to Funderburk Park, between West Avenue and Main Street, where the Montgomery Ward building once stood, according to Phyllis Beaver, marketing director for Cannon Village. Atlantic American is buying 5,000 Christmas lights and a “Moravian style star” about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

The Nov. 24 ceremony will kick off Cannon Village’s Old World Christmas season and feature children from local day-care centers who will sing while holding hands around the new Christmas tree.

Thank Beaver’s sharp eye and the generosity of business leaders.

Beaver worked with the Kannapolis Beautification Commis-sion last summer to find a tree that could be planted in Kannapolis and used for a lighting ceremony each year. After discussing it, however, the commission decided it didn’t have the money.

Beaver had noticed the white spruce often on the drive from her home in China Grove to Cannon Village. She made phone calls and learned that Citizens Bank in Salisbury owned the property.

Kannapolis businessman Jerry McCullough had sold the property to the bank. “When the lot was cleared, he wanted to protect the tree and surrounded it with granite slabs, hoping it would be spared,”Beaver said.

Beaver contacted Citizens Bank President Ronald Bostian, who agreed to donate the tree if the Beautification Commission moved it.

Mayor Ray Moss will flip the switch on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving, to light the community Christmas tree and other village tree lights. The Beautification Commission will dedicate the tree in memory of Randall Combs, a Kannapolis native and judge who died in August. Combs served on the commission.

“I think the tree lighting ceremonies in other communities are a lot of fun, and we have a great place to do it,” Beaver said. “I always looked at that tree and loved that tree. it’s one of those trees that you ride by and just think if I had the time ...”

The Matthews company will truck in water to keep the tree alive while mandatory water restrictions remain in effect.