Lighting The Path To The Holidays

By Nancy K. Crevier

Every year for the past 22 years, an enthusiastic group has met in the bowels of the C.H. Booth Library to take part in a ritual that is essential to the town’s holiday festivities. The Christmas Tree Committee is in charge of replacing every one of the thousands of bulbs that decorate the town Christmas tree in Ram Pasture. They also take responsibility for boxing and delivering 1,650 candles and luminarias to Main Street area residents. The luminarias, candle-lit decorative bags, line the streets of Newtown the evening of the annual tree lighting, which takes place this year on Friday, December 2, at 7 pm.

Some of the group have been faithful volunteers for years, say Janet Woycik and Diana Johnson, co-chairpersons for the committee. Ray Ruzak, Kathy and Scott Beales, Bobbe Bowles, Lenore Niedzielski, and Marj and Alex Aitchison are some of the names that come to mind in that respect, they say. Other volunteers are new. “After last year’s tree lighting,” Diana Johnson says, “two women called and asked if they could help in any way, since this was the tercentennial year coming up. Jennifer Madej and Carolyn Reiners were put to work and have brought in other new volunteers, too. We’re always happy to have new people on the committee.”

There are two sets of lights that are used in alternate years to decorate the 80-foot town tree, which stays lit each year until January 6. “It would be too inconvenient to ask them [the owners of the cherry picker that string the lights] to come back in January, and it is too cold, too snowy, and too icy to do so,” Janet Woycik explains, so the lights stay up year around. This means that they are subject to winds that yank at the strings of lights, freezing cold and broiling hot weather, hail, rain, snow, and birds that cause damage. “A lot come loose,” Ms Johnson adds.

Commercial bulbs are not inexpensive, and in order to offset the cost, memorial bulbs are offered to the public each year for purchase. Each bulb costs $10, and the list of sponsors is published each year in The Bee. There are touching stories that accompany the purchase of the bulbs many times, Ms Johnson says. “Sometimes there are tender notes attached on the purchase coupons. Lots of the bulbs last year were dedicated to those in the military.”

Replacing the 3,000-plus bulbs is a two-day job, at minimum. This year the committee met on Tuesday, November 1, and Wednesday, November 2, armed with coffee and doughnuts and high spirits to carry them through their task. Once the bulbs are replaced and tested, other volunteers will meet on Monday to finishing placing new luminarias in boxes and to deliver them.

This year, the luminarias will be lit, as they have always been, by plumber’s candles placed in the sand-filled containers. But the Christmas Tree Committee would like to see the candles replaced in the future by battery-operated lights. “We wanted to do it this year,” Ms Woycik says, “but the sample that came was too weak. We need to find a source for a stronger light.” In addition, there is a cost to buying battery-operated lights for each of the 1,500 luminarias that surround Ram Pasture Pond and the Christmas tree. “We will probably need about $3,000,” Ms Woycik estimates.

This year, residents will have the opportunity to purchase special, reusable tercentennial luminarias from the Christmas Tree Committee. The luminarias feature the cutout of a rooster in front of a pine tree on two sides, and the number 300 down each side panel of the silver and white boxes. The commemorative luminarias were designed for the committee by Brad Howe, graphics designer, and Pete Sturgis, structural designer, from Curtis Packaging in Newtown. The company’s die-cutting supervisor Reggie Gambordella was in charge of the intricate cutting of the pattern. Says spokeswoman, Karen Landgrebe, “The design was very tricky. Pete was the one who thought of the foil to cut the glare, and Reggie had quite a job of it to make the design work. We’re very happy to give the town something to remember the year with, though.”

The luminarias are designed to be easy to store, and will be sold 10 for $10, all of the money going toward the purchase of the battery-operated candles. Luminarias will be available for sale starting the week of November 14 at the C.H. Booth Library on Main Street.

As Ms Woycik and Ms Johnson enter their 22nd year of co-chairing the committee, they recall that they have met a lot of challenges. Initially, there was concern that heavy equipment to install the lights would damage Ram Pasture, that littering would be a problem, that sand from the luminarias would end up in the pond or that vandalism would create costly problems.

Very few of these worries came to be, however, the women say, and the tree lighting has become an anticipated holiday kickoff to the residents of Newtown.

“I think,” Ms Johnson says, “that a pride of ownership protects our tree.”