To say 2016 was a year of historical significance for Lehighton would be a gross understatement.

The year was marked by the borough’s 150th sesquicentennial celebration, a quest to find the borough’s centennial time capsule, and its first Christmas trees in the park event.From the end of June into early July, the borough honored its 150th anniversary with an eight-day celebration. The Lehighton 150th Celebration committee spent the past three years planning for the event.Events and activities invited community participation, such as musical performances at the newly painted amphitheater, food and craft vendors in the upper park, a Chinese auction, parade, and fireworks display.On the heels of that once-in-a-lifetime event, the committee decided to pursue leads in its quest to find the borough’s 1966 centennial time capsule.In November, the cornerstone to the borough’s municipal building was opened. While documents were inside, they were severely damaged by water.Though it was found to not be the 1966 time capsule, the cornerstone items were from the construction of the municipal building in 1936.The 80-year-old items are being dried, and the committee hopes to have an unveiling of them for the public once they are cataloged and documented, with the documents most likely to be turned over to the Lehighton Area Historical Alliance.The committee also organized and hosted the borough’s inaugural Christmas trees in the park event Dec. 4.That event featured the lighting of 73 trees in the borough’s upper and lower parks.