Palmerton volunteers deck the park with wreaths

About seven years ago, some Palmerton residents decided that the borough’s holiday decorations were getting old, but they couldn’t afford to buy new ones.

That’s when Joe Federanich stepped up and started the Palmerton Holiday Lighting Committee, an organization aimed at raising money to help Palmerton ring the holiday season in — in style.

“(Joe) initiated a fundraiser, and the first year we sent letters out to the whole Palmerton School District area,” Marj Federanich, Joe’s wife, recalled.

That first year, the committee raised $50,000.

Since then, the Palmerton Holiday Lighting Committee has made a number of improvements to the borough’s holiday decorations, starting by reviving the tradition of stringing multicolored lights around the perimeter of the park.

The committee also purchased the blue and white snowflake lights lining each side of Delaware Avenue, and the lights strung along the thoroughfare.

“If you come here at night, it looks like every snowflake’s different,” Marj Federanich said. “People could put the bulbs in wherever they wanted to make a design, so each snowflake looks unique, just like a real snowflake.”

This year, the committee decided to take on another decorating challenge, hanging green wreaths with red bows on lamp posts in the borough’s park.

“We’re always looking for something else we can do to adorn the town,” Federanich said.

“(The decorations) make the people of the town happy,” she added. “I think it makes me proud just that we have enough people that care — or they wouldn’t have donated, they wouldn’t come out to the Christmas in the Park so we can continue to raise money and so that we can continue to do things like this.”

Duane and Michele Frable, owners of Frable & Son Electrical Services, spent their Thursday morning braving the cold in order to hang the wreaths on behalf of the committee. For many, the wreaths symbolize the growth of its lighting committee. But they also point toward the traditions that made them possible — namely, the borough’s annual Christmas in the Park.

At first, the idea of putting on Christmas in the Park seemed more of a joke than a possibility, according to Michele O’Neill, who now chairs the Christmas in the Park Committee. O’Neill had just moved to the area from Dansville, New York, where the tradition had already been established.

When she came to Palmerton, O’Neill pitched the idea to the lighting committee. Now, six years later, the Palmerton Holiday Lighting Committee will be hosting its annual Christmas in the Park at noon Dec. 1, with a rain date of Dec. 2.

The event’s itinerary boasts a long list of vendors, choir singers and activities. Even Santa is making an appearance, but families have to be in line no later than 2:30 p.m. to see him. Another part of the committee’s annual tradition, the adopting and decorating of trees by the community, will ensure that the borough presents its holiday best during the celebration. This year, 102 trees will sit in the park, and another will be set up by Palmerton’s welcome sign.

For O’Neill, the borough’s annual Christmas in the Park represents more than just holiday cheer, it’s a chance for people to really show up. Students from the Palmerton Area High School’s environmental club come by to empty trash cans, and families from area Cub and Boy Scout Troops walk the park at least once a week to pick up ornaments that have fallen from trees.

“There are so many behind the scenes things with our Christmas in the Park and the trees that so many people don’t even realize,” O’Neill said.

“This is such a huge community thing,” she said. “It really is all aspects of the community. Various places in town, if we need supplies, are like ‘come get them,’ no questions asked.”