Shimmering season
Sparkling lights and holiday scenes make things look magical this time of year. No matter where you go in town you’re sure to see something that catches your eye, and whether it’s a tree twinkling in a window or a large yard display it all contributes to the city’s festive mood.
There are many truly intricate offerings, and one of those is on Third Street. Here you’ll find an entire Victorian village scene portrayed in colorful lights, from a horse and buggy to a boy and dog, to a lamplighter and carolers, to figures decorating a tree — some of them animated, and all set against a background of warmly lit and decorated porches.
Rick and Marilyn Nadeau have enlarged their display every year, and alert observers will notice some additions this season: a group of carolers with music notes, a boy on a toboggan, a girl skating towing a baby on a sleigh and a skating boy pulling his dog behind him.
“The last new one for this year is the kissing couple,” Rick Nadeau said. “She has a basket of flowers and is presenting it to him, and he is smelling the flowers.”
Nadeau said a company called Thompson Associates actually makes the pieces and installs the bulbs, then ships them here. He does the setup and adjusting, while his wife helps with placement and fine-tuning. The work has been ongoing for about four years, and it has taken him about four weekends, working at night when the lights are on, to complete the current array.
Why Victorian? “Well, actually, our house is on the citywide Historical Society tour,” said Nadeau, a local contractor. “It’s one of two ‘painted lady’ Victorian homes in the city of Presque Isle, so we just wanted to do all Victorian-themed decorations on the outside.”
The vibrant colors in the display actually came about by accident. When they first began their yearly holiday lighting, the lights were all white. Naturally, in Victorian times, Nadeau explained, there were no colored lights — only candles. “When we placed the order last year, [the company] made a mistake and made them colored, and we liked them so much we changed them all to colored lights.”
He noted many people ask him about his electric bill. “Actually, I’m very conscientious about that. Everything is LED lighting, so it’s very economical,” he said.
“It’s funny, the neighbors always go, ‘OK, Rick, what are you adding this weekend?’ So it’s kind of fun,” he added. “But what really got me to do it more, was all the people who came up to me and said their kids really enjoyed it. So that was my motivation — to do something for the kids.”
Nadeau added the display is automatically timed, and is on from about 4-11 p.m.
He asks only one thing of those who come to gaze: “Enjoy the lights.”
Holiday giving
Bells toll at store entrances and donation boxes appear for coats, toys, pet food and supplies — and it all seems to inspire people. There seem to be more smiles, more reaching out, more sharing.
Salvation Army representatives are ready to receive any donation folks care to share, the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club is conducting its annual Christmas Basket project, and the annual Toys for Tots campaign is also underway, all to help make a happy holiday for area children and families in need.
Churches are in the mix as well, as congregations have been busy collecting food for local pantries and gifts for those in need. Operation Christmas Child participants filled 3,444 shoeboxes with small gifts and treats to be sent to children in countries ravaged by poverty and war.
Saturday’s annual Holiday Light Parade presented another way to give, as Catholic Charities was on hand to collect donations of nonperishable food along the route. This gladdened the heart of Dixie Shaw, program director of Hunger and Relief Services for Catholic Charities in Aroostook County.
“We’ve participated in the Holiday Light Parade for many years,” she said Monday, “and this past Saturday was one of the best ever.” Catholic Charities staff and volunteers collected $275 in donations and an estimated 1,000 pounds of food during the parade, she said, adding the warm weather probably played a part.
Shaw said people, including children, were running up to give money and nonperishable food items so fast they had a hard time to keep up. “When you have children giving — when you can teach your child that someone might not have food for Christmas — I don’t know how you can make it any clearer,” she said, emphasizing that need exists throughout the year.
“The parade is a big event for us. This is what Christmas is all about for me,” Shaw said. “It’s giving, not getting. What a wonderful, wonderful way to start off the holidays.”
This is The County at its finest: Neighbors reaching out, giving, sharing, and blurring the lines between the “haves” and “have nots,” so the least among us is never the least. And in a world that has its dark times, we are reminded that there is also light.
