More than 150 residents squeezed into the small traffic island at the intersection of Market and Cambridge streets for the annual Elks Brighton Center Tree Lighting on Monday.

It was not all fun and games however, as a pedestrian in a mobility chair was struck crossing Cambridge Street shortly before the festivities began by a Ford Mustang. Boston Police Officers directed traffic around the incident as Boston EMTs extricated the pedestrian out of their chair and into an ambulance.

Despite this, Santa Claus still cheered up local children, taking photos – as well as gift lists – with and from the dozens of children gathered on the Center.

The event is a mainstay of the Brighton Elks Lodge #2199, and for the past several years Rockland Trust has partnered with the Elks to make everything happen.

First Vice President of Rockland Trust, Jennifer Christie, said she has overseen the partnership for the last few years. “This is probably the third or fourth time we’ve done this and I wanted to be involved because I was born and raised in the Brighton community,” she said. “We decided to team up with the Elks. It’s a great turnout every year; it just continues to get bigger and bigger.”

Residents Michael Kit and Herb Ye came out because both their daughters are girl scouts out of Oak Square. Kit’s daughter Avery and Ye’s daughter Hailey both said they had a lot of fun with Santa.

“It’s good to see folks coming out even though it’s cold, Michael Kit said. “Our kids with the Girl Scouts go to the Elks and write letters to Santa, have some hot chocolate, some candy and they also get some of these light up ornament necklaces. Then we walk to the tree. It’s a great time.”

“This was my fifth time!” Avery said, adding that Santa has been pretty good to her after she sees him in Brighton Center.

While the Kits had been coming for a few years now, Ye said he and Hailey were here for the first time.

“We just saw the tree lighting and we really liked it,” he said.

Director of The Women’s Table at the Sisters of St. Joseph, Barbara Pecci, said she’s been coming for as long as she can remember, being a lifelong Brighton resident.

“The Women’s Table is one of the ministries of the Sisters and we come out to all the community events and make sure we’re represented and share our time in the community,” she said. “We love the lighting. It’s a big beautiful tree; Santa was very participatory and all friends and family are around, and that’s what you want.”

Pecci said the Sisters and Women’s Table just delivered 26 Thanksgiving boxes to families in the area, as well as gift cards and are working with students experiencing homelessness at Brighton High School.

“We give gift bags to children who are unhoused, and there will probably be 80 to 100 kids we will serve this year,” she said.

For more information on the Women’s Table, go to https://tinyurl.com/y5zjz4js

Resident Courtney Culp came down with her family and her infant son.

“It’s his first Christmas and so we came down for the tree lighting,” she said. “And it looks like he’s having a good time. He’s about ready to sleep though, it’s around his bedtime right now!”

Resident Grey Black came down with his friends to see the lighting, mainly because he had never come before.

“It was just a six-minute walk so I figured why not,” he said. “It was really nice; a lot of little kids running around, very wholesome, and Santa’s got jokes!”

For more info on the Brighton Elks, go to https://tinyurl.com/y2wxzykn