Here are some brief thoughts on recent happenings in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
Holiday lights, outdoor lawn displays, window candles, luminaries: They have all taken on a hyper popularity in this first pandemic holiday season. After all, you can view them from a distance, safely, and take in their beauty without even getting out of the car. And for many of us, they recall long-ago family excursions to view the lights. In Bernardston, Recreation Department Chair Jenn Stennes recalls, “When I was a little girl, my dad used to drive me, my mom and brother around town to look at the Christmas lights. My brother and I would count how many houses had Christmas lights up. The challenge was to see which road had the most.” Stennes was inspired to call on residents to decorate their homes and light up the town for a Festival of Lights. “We wanted to do something fun and safe,” Stennes said.
In Greenfield, the business association is hoping to offer a drive-thru event on New Year’s Eve at Highland Park featuring luminaries and a bonfire. And the Greenfield Recreation Department’s Winter Carnival plans include a Parade of Lights.
Of course, the instant tradition of 2020 is the new “Light Up the Fairgrounds” event, which raised $37,000 for three nonprofit organizations in its first year. Organizers say they plan to make this an annual event.
Faced with restrictions, people have reached into their memory bag and reinvented old ideas for a new time. Thanks to technology, online maps, slide shows and videos promise to bring the displays to the housebound.
On this, the shortest day of the year, we leave you with these words from Neighbors columnist Anita Fritz: “I suggest you all take at least one ride through our towns this holiday season. Drink it in. Enjoy the peace that washes over you as you do.”