A crowd gathers to watch the lighting of a menorah during the 10th annual Lawrence Hanukkah celebration outside the Lawrence Public Library on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017.

As the sun sank toward the horizon Sunday evening, Bita Porubsky danced with her 18-month-old son Cyrus to music in the Lawrence Public Library courtyard in front of a large, unlit menorah.

“This is our first Hanukkah,” she said. “We really like music. We will go anywhere there is music.”

Firefighters with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical toss out treats for a crowd of children during a Hanukkah gelt drop during the 10th annual Lawrence Hanukkah celebration outside the Lawrence Public Library on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017.

Porubsky said she also wanted to learn more about Jewish culture and traditions, which would be shared at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life’s 10th annual Hanukkah menorah lighting.

“We were kind of curious,” she said. “It’s great. That’s part of what makes Lawrence so cool, celebrating all the cultures there are here.”

Soon after sunset, Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, led the menorah lighting ceremony, recounting the Hanukkah miracle of how the one bottle of consecrated oil found after the Jewish Maccabee army regained control of the Holy Temple lasted for eight days.

The event then enlisted Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical to provide a miracle to the children in attendance. Firefighters dropped what Tiechtel said would be money from heaven by throwing chocolate gold coins from the extended bucket of a firetruck. Seven-year-old Calvin Ingram managed to fill half the red plastic firefighter helmet he received before the drop with the coins. His mother, Mandi Chace, said they were downtown when they happened on the ceremony.

After an outdoor lighting of the menorah at the Lawrence Public Library, participants gather in the library auditorium for latkes, sufganiyot — traditional jelly donuts — and other holiday treats during the 10th annual Lawrence Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017.

“We didn’t know it would be this much fun,” she said. “I think we’ll have to put it on the calendar for next year.”

With the coin drop over, the event moved into the library’s auditorium for traditional music and food. Between getting the music started with rhythmic clapping and greeting visitors, a smiling Tiechtel said he was pleased with the turnout and the chance to share the message of Hanukkah with the community.

“It’s great,” he said. “It gets bigger every year. You look around and see many people coming together to celebrate the festival of light. Light appeals to everyone. Imagine what we could accomplish if we all were a light against the darkness.”