20th Anniversary Coming Up—

Tree Lights And Luminaria Kits Are Good To Go

By Dottie Evans

On Friday, December 3, when nearly 3,000 luminaria candles are lit and hundreds of white tree lights decorating Newtown’s holiday spruce are turned on, the Ram Pasture, Hawley Pond, historic Main Street, Elm Drive, Sugar Street, and Glover Avenue will come alive with a soft, welcoming glow.

At the same time, there might be small cadre of volunteers who experience their own collective warm glow of personal satisfaction. This is because, once again, they have managed to successfully bring home the Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Festival. The 2004 event marks the 20th consecutive year that they have done this.

“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years,” remarked event co-chair Diana Johnson on Monday, November 8, as she and several volunteers met at the Booth Library to check dozens of light strands and test all of the bulbs, count out the candles, and assemble the luminaria packets.

Hard to imagine, but there was a time when Ms Johnson did not think they would ever get the town tree lighting idea launched. It was more than two decades ago, in the early 1980s, when she began pushing the project.

“I was talking with my husband, Wayland, who was a pilot for TWA at the time, saying the Chamber of Commerce was trying to come up with a good idea for decorating the town during the holidays.

“He said why didn’t we do what all the little towns in Germany always do –– light a tree in the center of town.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. Except that it took three years for the chamber to embrace the concept and decide to actually do it.

“Finally Sam Eisenbach, our new chamber president [in 1985], said OK. He conscripted Janet [Woycik] to help, and she and I just put this committee together,” Ms Johnson said.

“Incredibly, we’ve had a core of volunteers who keep coming back. We could not have done it without tree expert Dan Dalton and electrical contractor Stan Perrone,” she added.

Ms Johnson and Ms Woycik, who are good friends, have acted as co-chairs since Day One.

Two decades have brought a good deal of change as more and more residents have participated in the annual tree lighting ceremony. From its modest beginning when only 300 candles were put out, there are now 125 families living in the center of town who have volunteered to put out the luminaria bags along their front entrance walks and bordering the sidewalk fronting their property.

Presuming that the holiday tree growing at the corner of Elm Drive and Hawley Lane has gained a foot a year in height, the number of light strands needed to cover it must have also grown. When the switch is thrown at 7 pm on December 3, thousands of white lights will blink to life.

This year the tree will feature a new eight-foot star designed and fabricated by Gabor Hajzer of H&G Tool Company of Sandy Hook. The star is made of aluminum C channel so that it is very light, about 20 pounds, but durable. “It will never get corroded,” Mr Hajzer said, “and it is a very strong construction so it can withstand high winds.”

The star will feature more than 100 lights, which will be attached by Stan Perrone of Kesco Electric. The lights form a circle in the center then are staggered on the eight four-foot legs and eight two-foot legs.

In addition, colored lights will be strung from a smaller holiday-tree-in-waiting planted nearby. The younger tree is only 20 feet high, but it boasts the classic triangular Christmas-tree shape.

According to the co-chairs, everything is on target for the 20th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony put on by the Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Parks and Recreation Department.

The lights will be hung by a cherry-picker truck in mid-November, and the luminaria kits will soon be distributed to neighborhood collection points for distribution to the families. Sand to anchor the candles in their bags will be provided by the Parks and Recreation Department and will be available behind Edmond Town Hall.

The very predictability of Newtown’s yearly ritual on the first Friday of December only adds to its magic: luminaria out by 5 pm; carol singing and music by the Newtown High School band at 6:30; donuts and hot cider at 6:45; holiday tree lighting at 7; Mr and Mrs Santa Claus arriving in their sleigh at 7:05.

A gentle snowfall beginning 5:30 when most people have gotten safely home from work would also be nice. Especially if it ends after the world has turned white and by the time the hot cider is served. The committee may be working on it.

In keeping with its annual appeal for funds to pay for the tree lights and the luminaria kits, as well as the new eight-foot-tall star that will be unveiled for the first time this season, the Chamber of Commerce is asking for donations to honor friends and loved ones. Please send checks to Chamber of Commerce of Newtown, Post Office Box 15, Hawleyville CT 06440.