Step into Christmas
Annual stroll brings out Woonsocket’s holiday spirit
WOONSOCKET— It may have been 23 days ahead of schedule, but Christmas arrived in Woonsocket on Saturday, as Main Street from Monument Square to Market Square and everywhere in between was festooned with red and green holiday hues.
For Mendon resident Coleman Nee, the yearly Main Street Holiday Stroll is the sort of thing that can unite a community and give people a sense of pride in the city they call home.
“One of the things that's nice is to have festivities this time of year,” Nee, whose nephew was going to be performing on Saturday afternoon, said. “It brings the city back. You want to see it revive the city. It's one of the nicer exhibits.”
“The city's nicely decorated,” Nee added. Main Street downtown was filled with energy and activity on Saturday as local artisans, food trucks, street performers, ice sculptures, a scavenger hunt, a contest starring trees decorated by Woonsocket's elementary schools, and kid-friendly activities filled the streets. Additionally, carolers in period costumes were singing holiday songs up and down the street while performances in the Mullen Parking Lot filled the air with a jaunty sense of Christmas.
Nee said events like the Holiday Stroll can aid in reviving not just a street but an entire city.
“It's nice. You can have a city, even in financial straits, put together shows,” Nee said. “This is community. There's life in the city and the community brings it together. You have to do things like this, just the festivities and bringing everyone together is hard to beat.”
Santa Claus arrived via fire truck at his house near the Court Street bridge, while just across the street, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council's Polar Express train ride to Worcester and back gave pajama-clad families a feeling that they were soon to depart for the North Pole and Santa's workshop.
North Smithfield resident Linda Krajweski said an event like the yearly Main Street Holiday Stroll “can revital- ize the area. They can fill Main Street. Main Street is coming back.”
“We can draw the community together,” she said. “You see more businesses coming and they're staying. They're investing.”
Walking events with entertainment, Krajewski added, can provide a fun way for people to tour Main Street and find some local businesses they may not have been aware of as they drive the road.
“I like the music, there's children from 0 to 99 listening,” she said. Krajewski said she's been coming to the stroll for three years now, and the attendance and scope has “doubled” since then.
“It's all ages. You take the kids to see Santa … I've seen a lot of kids really happy,” she said.