Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and First Lady Frances Strickland officially kick off the holiday season on Capitol Square with the lighting of two Ohio Statehouse Holiday Trees on December 1, 2008. This is the 93rd annual Ohio Statehouse Holiday Tree Lighting event held on Capitol Square.

The short tree lighting ceremony includes music provided by the Con Brio Children's Choir from Westerville and the Salvation Army Band. Lt. Governor Fisher and Mrs. Strickland will welcome visitors and usher in the holiday season by flipping the switch to light the two official Statehouse holiday trees. Lt. Gov. Fisher commands the firing of a civil war era cannon to signal special holiday lighting of the Capitol Square complex and surrounding buildings. .

The Statehouse holiday trees are both living 28-foot Blue Spruces planted on the Northwest and Southwest corners of the Ohio Statehouse West Plaza in 1996. Each tree is decorated with more than 15,000 white mini and C7 lights and 285 ornaments consisting of 10 inch finials and 8 ½ inch stars in red, gold, and silver and 5 ½ inch and 8 inch ball ornaments in red, gold blue and silver. Each tree is topped with a star.