Decking Kingston with evergreens

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, November 29, 2006

KINGSTON — On Saturday morning, while the bulk of the North End was either still digesting Thanksgiving leftovers or swarming to various stores to shop, a dedicated group of about 20 residents was hammering away in Kingston’s workshop, also known as the community center.

They picked, sawed and tied together evergreen swags, accented with holly and red bows, to hang on the street lights of Kingston. In the spring and summer, those light posts are decorated with bright flower baskets, but they need something a little more festive for the holiday season.

“It went really fast this year,” said Kingston Garden Club member and swag maker Nancy Martin. “We showed up at about 9:15 a.m., and they were already almost done.”

The annual decorating started at about 8:20 a.m., even though residents were told to show up at 9 a.m., said Martin’s husband, Dan Martin. He said next year, if they plan it just right and get enough helpers, they should be able to decorate all of Kingston’s roughly 70 light posts. This year, they managed about one-third of that, he said, all by 11:15 a.m.

“It goes really fast,” Kingston Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sally Christy said, echoing Nancy Martin’s assessment. “We had a lot of people, and we’ve done it year after year after year. We’ve got a lot of practice under our belts.”

Many of Kingston’s civic groups came together to help make the swags, including the Kingston Garden Club, the Kingston Kiwanis, Kingston Friends of the Library, the Kingston Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Kingston Association, Christy said.

The swag-making and hanging has been a Kingston tradition for many years, she said, and every year volunteers come out of the woodwork to help the process along.

“It was so much fun,” said Kingston Chamber of Commerce Board member Betty Mathers, who helped with the swags. “We really got done with it pretty quickly. I would stay to help, but I’m going to the other side to visit family now.”

The decorating comes not only in time for the holidays, but also for the Kingston Country Christmas Dec. 9, when the community will come together for the winter holidays.

The boughs of evergreen and holly help give the town a more festive feeling, Mathers said.

“This was the first year I’ve gotten involved,” said Dan Martin. “I got really excited about it, it was a lot of fun.”