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To kick off the holiday season, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce held it's popular Lighting of the Lenin statue festivities last night.

"Lighting a tree isn't Fremont. Lighting a communist tyrant, now that is Fremont,"announced Kirby Lindsay, the MC for the night, while a crowd anticipated the lighting of the famous Fremont Lenin statue.

"We're multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and possibly, multi-offensive this year," said Lindsay. The statue of the famous Russian communist is adorned with a big David's Star around his head and the word "Christmas" around his chest.

"We've been doing this since we found out that a tree would cost $10,000." said Susie Burke laughing before leading the crowd in a sing-along-song.

The festivities in Lenin Square included live music from Rabbit Stew String Band, free refreshment from Peet's coffee, Mighty-O Donuts and Pie.

Santa was also present and had the honor of flipping the switch to illuminate the statue.

If you rook pictures at the event last night, we'd love to feature them in the slideshow. Please email them to anner@robinsonnews.com