Light Up the Holidays Parade on Main Street from 5:00 - 8:00 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2023
Santa, Fire and Police Vehicle(s) to drive by neighborhoods (5:00 - 7:00 PM).
See the CRA Website (https://daltoncra.org) for Sunday route and other details
DEPOT STREET
5:00-5:45 PM
Santa’s parade starts here!
Follow Santa and his Elves on his sleigh
Berkshire County Friday Lights (Car Club) –Free Glow Necklaces
CBRSD Music
Dewey’s Public House –Open for dinner
Sweet Pea –Ice cream samples
MAIN STREET EAST
Santa’s parade continues!
Dalton Methodist Church –Food, drink & music
Angelina’s & Juice N’ Java –Food and hot chocolate
Portavia –Open for dinner
Zinky’s –Open for dinner
Kelly’s Package Store –Wine tasting
Also at Kelly’s: Balloon Artist
Shire Breu-Hous –Beer tasting
Portavia & Zinky’s –Providing food samples
CBRSD Music
UPPER MAIN STREET
7:00-7:45 PM
Santa’s parade continues!
Dalton Fire Department at Dwyer Funeral Home –Hot Dogs
First Congregational Church
6:00 PM – Bell Ringing & Christmas Music by the
Wahconah Choir and Guitar students plus hot chocolate
Dalton Youth Center –will have Arts & Crafts, Refreshments and a Balloon Artist
St. Agnes Church –Christmas Songs from Dan Hamilton
Dalton Library –
Children’s crafts & popcorn Nessacus Band Music
Pittsfield Co-Op Bank –Home-made goodies from the staff outside
CBRSD Music
The ARCH / Rose Quartz Spatique –Open for holiday shopping
Hot Harry’s –$2 Tacos
Happy warm holidays
Berkshire AHEC, Inc. –Children’s gift bags
WRHS Art Display at Union Block Bakery
The Dalton Restaurant –Hot food outside and open for dinner
AT THE CRA
5:00-8:00 PM
CRA Athletic Hall of Fame –Open for viewing
6:00 PM –
Dalton Ballet Studio –Performance
OUTSIDE THE CRA
CBRSD Music
Santa’s parade arrives around 8:00 PM
Combined middle & high school bands perform together as Santa lights the tree.
Shuttle Bus is available between Depot Street and the CRA, sponsored by the DALTON Council on Aging BRTA 5:00-8:00 PM
Central Berkshire Regional Public Schools will provide art, instrumental and vocal music along the parade route.
Many people may not get in the holiday spirit without decorations and all the trimmings. Chances are strong that if you have containers full of items just waiting to see the light of day again this holiday season, those items are red or green or some combination thereof.
Red and green have become the traditional colors of Christmas, just as blue and white symbolizes Chanukah. But how did this color palette come to evolve?
Just like many traditions of Christmas, the red and green scheme has origins that pre-date the Christian celebration. Christmas has borrowed from many of the customs of winter solstice celebrations of ancient peoples, including the Celts. Ancient Celtic people revered holly plants, believing they brought beauty and good fortune in the middle of winter - a time when the landscape is normally bleak and holly plants thrive and stand out. Celts would regularly bring in sprigs of holly and decorate their homes with the plants, which feature shiny, serrated leaves and bright, red berries, as a way to guarantee a prosperous new year. Holly also came to be associated with the crown of thorns Jesus Christ was forced to wear during his crucifixion.
The custom of using red and green continued into the 14th century. Dr. Spike Bucklow, a research scientist at the University of Cambridge, says red and green also were used to paint medieval rood screens, which were partitions installed in churches to
separate the congregation from the priest and altar. Dr. Bucklow notes that Victorians also extended the association of these colors as a physical boundary to another boundary: the marking of the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one at Christmastime.
While red and green had associations with Christmas in early times through holly and other sources, the connection was perhaps best solidified thanks to a man named Haddon Sundblom. Sundblom was an artist commissioned in 1931 by the Coca-Cola company to create an image of Santa Claus for the company’s upcoming holiday ads. Until this point, versions of Santa were rarely consistent, with his clothing vacillating between green, blue and red. He also wasn’t the plump, jolly fellow associated with Christmas as we know him today, but rather thin and elf-like. Sundblom portrayed him as a chubby man wearing red robes, likely as a nod to Coca-Cola’s own red logo, even though the company denies the connection. Santa was featured in front of a green background. The ads proved popular and Sundblom’s Santa became the preferred depiction. Santa’s red robes perfectly complemented the green background and other green components of the holiday, such as Christmas trees and holly, that already had been solidified as Christmas imagery.
Color plays a strong role in creating Christmas nostalgia. Red and green are put on vivid display throughout the season.
Simple tricks to disentangle holiday lights
The joyous holiday season is enhanced by the beautiful and festive decorations that adorn homes and businesses during this special time of year. Twinkling lights are part of the holiday decorating equation. However, tangled lights in storage bins and boxes can sap anyone’s holiday spirit.
Christmas lights can turn into a tangled mess no matter how hard people work to avoid such an outcome. Christmas lights get tangled partly because of their design. There is a metal wire inside the cord to help with the packaging of the lights, which gives the cord a natural curve. Furthermore, most light cords are made from twisted or braided wires that have spaces throughout. The lights themselves can get snagged in these pockets between the wires.
Although it can be frustrating to deal with tangled lights that look like balls of yarn in a knitting basket, there are ways to disentangle them with relative ease - and then pack them in a way that can reduce further tangles.
Begin by plugging all lights into the outlet to see if they work. If most of the bulbs are burnt out or the lights
do not go on at all, discard the strand. There’s no point untangling lights only to learn they don’t work.
Start slowly, beginning on the plug end, when untangling the lights. Keep the strand you’re working on separate from the other lights so they do not inadvertently become entangled. Tackle this job in a space with a lot of room. Lay the lights out on a large table or sit on the floor to do the untangling.
Utilize a pen or pencil to fish out more stubborn snags. This can help you loosen any knots and make it easier to pull snags through.
Lay the untangled strands out in a safe area away from your working space as you work through each strand.
One of the ways to avoid the hassle of tangled lights is to remember to store the lights in ways that will reduce their propensity for tangling in the first place.
• Rather than wrap lights around your hand or arm to condense the strand, use something else. A piece of cardboard, a hanger and some PVC tubing can keep lights from becoming tangled.
“icicles” together, or use some plastic
• Invest in a cord reel, similar to what you might use for a garden hose. Longer light strands or wires are stored on such reels, and they can be
