Bird Park illuminates holiday season

By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

With the sun now setting just shortly after 4 p.m., many are feeling the effects of the short days and long, chilly nights. For those in Walpole who crave sun-kissed summer afternoons and long hours of daylight, there might only be one thing that makes a winter night enjoyable: the abundance of twinkling string lights decorating snowy trees and festive homes.

With so many of the homes in Walpole adding some warmth and happiness to the otherwise frigid evenings with holiday lights and decorations, Walpole’s beloved Francis William Bird Park decided to join the community in illuminating the evening with a decorated Christmas tree.

Maura O’Gara of the Trustees of Reservations invited all to gather at the park’s Music Court on December 8 to witness the lighting of a 10-foot-tall balsam fir tree and enjoy carols from the Walpole Children’s Chorus and the Walpole High School Chorus, under the guidance of music teacher Ashley Prickel.

Hoping that the cold evening wouldn’t deter Walpole neighbors from joining in the momentous occasion, O’Gara encouraged families to bring blankets and chairs to sit on, and treated the park’s visitors to hot chocolate.

This year included members of Walpole High School’s Drama Club, known as the Walpole Players, in their costumes for Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” which the high school actors performed on December 9 and 10.

The Players perform the classic holiday story every four years, and this year’s timeline for the production perfectly coincided with the Bird Park tree lighting, allowing O’Gara and director Jim D’Attilio to collaborate on bringing the special costumed guests to the event.

Soon after 6:30 p.m., O’Gara led the park’s visitors in a countdown to light the tree. The children in the crowd excitedly joined in on the countdown until the giant tree behind O’Gara glowed on the stone stage.

Just as Walpole’s community knows that years to come will bring more chilly December evenings, they can expect, too, that there will be many more tree lighting celebrations to make the holiday season at Bird Park more enjoyable.