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| Santa is shown arriving in 1984 at the intersection of Pollock and Middle streets downtown. |
My recent conversation with Linda Morris was filled with
hearty laughter as she reminisced about the pitfalls and foibles of the first
Coastal Carolina Celebration Tree Lighting Ceremony in 1984, and its
unforgettable ending.
Susan, it was awful,
just awful! I was never so embarrassed in my entire life. I wanted to crawl in
a hole and die!
Linda served on the Swiss Bear Board in the mid-1980’s and
among other contributions, initiated and served as chairman of the Coastal
Christmas Celebration during her tenure as a director.
Linda recalled, As a
New Bern native, I had many vivid happy memories of a downtown that celebrated
the holidays; the Molly Heath tree in the Christ Episcopal Church yard was
always decorated with Christmas lights. Christmas music filled the air. Santa
had a little house on Middle Street and there was always , a Christmas parade-
all of those kinds of things—but the decline of the downtown in the ‘70’s put
an end to all of that. The whole idea was to create an event that would bring
people back downtown, one that would get families involved.
A Swiss Bear Christmas
Committee was organized in September 1984 and members met with East Carolina Yacht
Club members to discuss a flotilla parade of decorated boats on the waterfront.
Since it was so late in the year and construction of the new Sheraton Hotel and
marina was underway in the urban renewal area on the Trent River waterfront,
the decision was made to pursue organizing a flotilla in 1985.
In the meantime, when
permission was received from the Christ Episcopal Church to decorate the Molly
Hearth tree, the committee decided to have a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
on the evening of December 5, the first Saturday of the month to kick-off the
holiday season. Three electrical supply companies contributed the strings of
colored lights and the city agreed to put them on the tree.
Harold Talton (Swiss
Bear Chairman) agreed to be Santa and would be in a small roller sleigh that,
then executive director Marvin Davis brought from Elizabeth City. The program was to
begin at 5:30 p.m. (scheduled to last an hour) in front of the old post office
(New at Middle Street) with performances by the New Bern High School band and
the drill team, the Centenary Church Children’s Bell Choir, and a Christmas
Cheer.
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| Centenary Church Children's Bell Choir also performed at the Christmas celebration. |
Pro-Musica would lead
everyone in parade form down Middle to the intersection of Pollock Street, singing
“Here Comes Santa Claus “while two drill team members would pull Santa on the
sleigh. When Santa arrived at the intersection, he would make some cheery
comments, ask Reverend Ed Sharp, Rector
of Christ Church to give a Christmas blessing and then with a flick of his
finger, turn on the lights on the Molly Heath Tree.
So what went wrong, why was it an awful experience?
Linda continued, on
the same day of the celebration, we learned the city had just finished hanging
wreaths on the light poles, and had not turned on any of the lights in the
decorations.
We came up with the
idea we would tie the lighting of the Christmas wreath decorations with the
Tree Lighting Ceremony. All of the lights would be tied to a timer so Santa
could turn everything on with a flick of his finger. We all know about the best
laid plans.
Around noon on
December 5, the temperature started to drop and began to rain. Light sleet began
to fall and had intensified to the point, by 5 p.m. we knew we were in trouble.
Everyone was freezing, children were crying, musicians could barely perform. We
managed to cut that portion short and everyone paraded to the Pollock/Middle
Street intersection.
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| As Christmas Cheer was performed at the 1984 Coastal Carolina Celebration Tree Lighting Ceremony. |
After a quick blessing
and a few ho, ho, ho’s, everyone watched in great anticipation for the moment
the lights would all come on. Media cameramen stood poised as Santa flicked the
switch. Nothing happened. He flicked it again and again nothing happened. He
walked over to me, Linda what went wrong? I don’t know, try again. He flicked
it again-still no lights.
Finally we realized
the lights weren’t going to come on –the timer had been set for 6:30 p.m.
according to the scheduled program. By cutting it short, we were 15 to20
minutes ahead of schedule.
While someone tried to
get into City Hall to move the timer ahead, we stood there humiliated, watching
everyone leave in total disappointment. When the lights finally did come on, no
more than five people were there to see it. It was awful. It’s funny now, but
it certainly wasn’t then.
The December 20 Swiss Bear board minutes have a brief entry…Christmas
Committee - Agenda item #8... Linda Morris reported, our committee learned from
our mistakes this year and will meet in January to plan for next year.
Susan Moffat Thomas, Executive Director
Swiss Bear Downtown Development Corp.
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