Though the Christmas holiday has been secularized to the extent that many have little or no appreciation for what it originally was intended to commemorate – the birth of Jesus Christ, even in its secularity this season brings people together.
And that’s why I’m enthusiastic about the eruption of energy from some of our local residents, some of them well beyond retirement age, but still thinking up ways to make things better in Sweet Home.
If you’ve looked over our front page today, you no doubt notice that there is quite a sequence of events planned over the next several weeks – starting Friday with the lighting of three separate displays in town.
I won’t go into the nittty gritty here, since it’s all laid out in our report – as much as we were able to cobble together, anyway. There has definitely been much more coordination this year, which has helped not only our reporting efforts (sometimes we have to spend an inordinate amount of town simply trying to determine who’s in charge of what) but also has, I think, added to the momentum.
This year most of the events were at least reported to the Chamber of Commerce, and that’s a big step toward organization.
One of the organizers, whom I’ll only identify here as a veteran in these kinds of activities, told me that she couldn’t believe “how smooth it’s gone.” People “came out of the woodwork,” to make this happen. I’ve heard similar reactions from others.
To put all this in perspective, a year ago the Christmas parade was in danger of being cancelled and a few citizens roused themselves and others to form a committee to keep it alive. They pulled it off, and it was a success.
I can’t say what happened in the interim, but by all appearances a lot of people have gotten fired up.
Remember that there is no central committee putting these events together, but they complement each other quite well and stretching them over the next several weeks means that it’s not a one-and-done deal.
Other communities have learned these lessons. Brownsville. Albany. Lebanon. They know that having a sequence of events creates interest in the community, brings shoppers downtown and generally contributes to good will and all of that.
And that brings me to a point we should all seriously consider: If we’re a community, let’s try to act like one as the events take place. That means we need to participate.
I know, if you don’t have small children and there’s a “honey-do” list on the refrigerator, going to a parade might not be exactly what you’d put high on your list of things to do on a Saturday morning – particularly if the weather’s not cooperative. Especially with all those mega-stores beckoning with bargains and that free coffee.
But participation is both the price and the pay-off for these efforts to create some holiday spirit. These people are going far out of their way to paint Christmas scenes on oversized “postcards” to make the season warm and bright. I’m sure they all have lists of projects to get done that don’t involve standing out in the cold.
Participation also helps our local merchants. Yes, we don’t have the shopping we’d all like, but it’s kind of a chicken-and-egg deal. If we want merchants to stock items we want to buy, they see some demand for those products.
We have some specialty stores that are well worth a stop for a gift or two. Yes, you’re not going to beat big-box prices, but do you think the folks at Whatever-Mart care that you just spent your money there? Only to the extent that they got their fingers on your money.
In a community like Sweet Home, it goes further than that. Check out those paintings on display in local galleries. Stop in and browse the knick-knacks. Buy that hammer or those Christmas lights locally, even if it costs you a few pennies more.
As we’ve pointed out before, your money stays home when you spend it here and you build relationships that you’ll never get at some giant concern where the large marjority of what you spend goes out the door to Arkansas or Chicago. Your money just left on a truck there and the clerk, let’s be honest, could really care less that you invested in their store.
Obviously, most of us can’t do all our shopping locally. But I consider spending money in Sweet Home as investing in Sweet Home. Buying it here instead of Eugene or Albany is one more step toward building our local economy.
This is about more than just spending money, though.
I’m certainly not saying we all have to go to every event and visit as many stores as we can. But if you like to walk or run, do the mile before the parade. If you need a family photo, think about doing it at the museum.
If a big crowd shows up for, say, the parlor photos at the museum, that might be a real incentive for the organizers to take this a step further. I don’t know what that step would be, but lots of other communities around us do lots of different things and there’s no reason why we can’t – if we want to.
The people who decided to take this thing to the next level should be commended. The best way to do that is to show up.