Give yourself a pat on the back, Orange. You’ve saved Starry Starry Night.
The town’s storied New Year’s Eve celebration faced potential extinction over the summer, when the Starry Starry Night committee appealed to the public for volunteers to replace members stepping down after two decades of service. Volunteers, and donations, poured in and the community can look forward to the event’s 21st installment on Dec. 31 as a result.
Starry Starry Night typically consists of a parade, fireworks and entertainers, such as bands, puppeteers and comedians.
Chairwoman Crystal Parent said the event has enjoyed a resurgence of support.
“It’s going to keep going. The people who volunteered for this year have also volunteered for next year,” she said in a telephone interview while driving copies of the event’s schedule to area businesses so people can pick them up. “I think it’s great that it brings families together on the holiday and gets kids off the streets and gives them something to do. It’s a really great community event.”
Participating venues and a schedule of events can be found at: www.starrystarrynight.org. The parade will begin at 10 p.m., followed by fireworks at 10:15.
“We’re trying to include more venues downtown. There’s a couple of extra churches downtown that would like to be involved,” Parent said. “We’re working on improving every year. We’ve already got ideas for next year.”
The annual Parade of Stars from Orange Town Hall to Memorial Park will replace the Parade of Puppets, which were destroyed by weather conditions. Parent said committee members have discussed getting together once a month to create new puppets to resurrect the old favorite. In the meantime, the committee is holding workshops to teach people how to build stars for the Parade of Stars. The final workshop is scheduled for today from 2 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in Wheeler Memorial Library.
People are welcome to bring homemade stars (the larger, the better) on sticks to show off as they march in the parade. No sign-up is necessary. There will be a $50 prize for the most creative homemade star.
Manuel King said he founded Starry Starry Night with Ann Miller and another woman (though he has forgotten the other woman’s name) after Orange was featured in “Hidden Massachusetts,” a series of articles published 20 years ago in The Boston Globe. Some have said the Globe told the story of a troubled family originally from Oklahoma and unfairly portrayed Orange in a negative light.
The series ignited a grassroots effort to give people a fun and family-friendly event on New Year’s Eve, a night notorious for wild partying and drinking.
King and his wife, Mary, had in the mid-1990s gone to First Night Boston and First Night Hartford the year prior.
“We were walking around and saying, ‘We could do this in Orange. Wouldn’t that be fun?’” he recalled.
The founders worked with the Orange Arts Center, which has since closed, and the Orange Revitalization Project. King said Starry Starry Night still operates under the umbrella of ORP.
Asked if he ever dreamed Starry Starry Night would become the annual event it is today, King replied, “Probably not, no.”
“That was the hope — that it would be something that would continue for year after year,” he said. “What I’m most proud of is that people saw a value in it and wanted to continue it after my wife and I said, ‘Twenty years is enough. It’s time to step back.’”
The Kings are adopting an arms-length relationship with Starry Starry Night, serving as advisors and recruiting volunteers. They said the event needs new blood after two decades, but it certainly has served its purpose.
“It gained popularity quickly because, obviously, there was a need for it,” Mary King said. “It was meant to be family friendly, to counter some of the things that can happen on New Year’s Eve, counter the negative stereotypes of the area.”
She said the goal was to make the event free and bring more culture and entertainment to the area.
“I think in all those areas, it’s been a really remarkable success,” she said.
Mary King said Parent, who became chairwoman in October, has done a wonderful job of taking over a year-round responsibility.
“I can’t imagine having to take over Starry Starry Night, because it’s a moving target and there’s … 365 pieces, because there’s one for every day of the year,” she said. “I just can’t say enough about how well she’s been able to organize this.”
Mary King said Starry Starry Night has been featured in Yankee Magazine and won a Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.