Festive Program

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Pam Spencer, Chair
 

• SPONSOR A BULB ~ Elaine Persons, Chair

• COCOA ~ Joanne Donnelly, Chair
  Lori Dumont
  Charlotte Minasian
  Eileen Morsett
  Teresa Ramirez
  Sheila Roy
  Dorothy Sieradzki

• HOLIDAY GREENS~ Valerie McAskill, Chair
  Dyane Cotreau
  Joanne Donnelly
  Constance Leahy
  Christine Gauthier-Kelley
  Holly Gavin

• LIGHTS~ Elaine Persons

• MRS. CLAUS ~ Elaine Persons

• MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES ~ Sue McDermott

• USHERS ~ Gayle Masiero, Shirley Preston, Wendy Thomas

       

Goal:

Plan and execute tree lighting program Sunday, December 7, 2025, 3:30 p.m.; coordination required with several Town organizations, MERHS, includes several Club Committees --Sponsor-A-Bulb, Lights, Cocoa, Holiday Greens, Mrs. Claus. 

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      May: Sign-up sheets at Annual Meeting & Luncheon to ask for volunteers
 

      July: Set date with Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce to coincide with the Sunday of Christmas-by-the-Sea (almost always the first Sunday in December unless that is December 1). Contact all Committee members and volunteers for listing in the annual Club yearbook.
 

     July-August: Schedule with First Parish Congregational Church (FPCC) office and write letter to obtain permission from FPCC trustees to hold program. Hire sexton and organist at their suggestion; invite minister to talk at the opening of the program; coordinate with 1st Parish Church Office Manager for chairs – 978-526-7661, opt. 1.
 

     Early September: invite MERHS music teachers to have their students perform at program: Manchester Elementary chorus, High School chorus, High School band, and SoundWaves. Choose seasonal songs for sing-along (not religious standards as before)
 

     October:

• Coordinate with Sponsor-a-Bulb committee; supervise edit of donation envelope and its printing (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms)

• Coordinate with Holiday Greens Committee

• Coordinate with Publicity: Cricket articles

     
     November: get program selections from MERHS music teachers

• Flowers for altar: Katerina Gates or the Church

• Produce program and get it printed (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms) including song sheets for sing-along.

• Launch Sponsor-a-Bulb program, Cricket Press articles and donor lists.

• Holiday Greens decorations go up on Sunday after Thanksgiving; we provide 2 small wreaths and one large one for the Church facade. Church will put them up and take them down.

• Contact ushers, remind and set time to arrive

• Find someone with truck to fetch 4 stacks of chairs from FPCC Chapel at 1:30 day of lighting and return them at 4:30.

• Coordinate with Mrs. Claus

• Get checks from Treasurer for organist, sexton, FPCC, any others who need to be paid at the event; use the Manchester Woman’s Club stationery to write thank-you cards, enclose checks.

     
       First Sunday in December: Church opens at 1:30; supervise chair moving; manage ushers; provide any help needed to performers; program at 3:30 pm; cocoa afterward outside; arrange trumpet fanfare and count-down to lighting with HS Band director; Tree lighting at dusk; clean up afterward inside with sexton and outside with cocoa committee; supervise chair return.
 

      December: Follow-up thank-you article in Cricket; thank you notes; invoices to Treasurer

 

LIGHTS (1 member)
(See separate procedures document for more detail)

• Order lights (replacement and/or new) through Dan Houde, Manchester Electric, LLC, in July (978-526-1194)

• Arrange with arborist to put up lights at the end of November and remove them in late January or February (Bartlett Tree, 978-927-1590, Jack Ingram has volunteered to do this as a donation since 2018).

• Plan for the count-down, actual lighting of the tree. Pick two children to light the tree along with Dan Houde.

 

SPONSOR-A-BULB (3 members)

• Club Board determines where money is needed; Communications Committee and/or Publicity Director edits donation envelope blurb to reflect that; prints 250 (Daily Printing, Beverly Farms) in October; gets display stands.

• Distribute envelopes to membership on tables at (October and November meeting(s) 

• One member receives all donations, creates weekly computer files, and forwards them to Cricket Press each Monday, forwards receipts to Treasurer at regular intervals: see Elaine Person’s Sponsor-A-Bulb write-up.

• Publicity works with The Cricket to produce articles to announce the campaign and introduce the weekly donors list; get it in the Scott Oil community announcements early November; clip and save copies of all articles.

• Submit all bills to Program Chair for approval and delivery to Treasurer.

 

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES (1 member)

• Coordinate and announce each presenter or performer(s)

 

MRS. CLAUS (1 member)

• Member wears her own costume.

• Mrs. Claus provides her own basket of candy canes to distribute during cocoa service.

 

USHERS (6 to 8 members)

• Guide visitors in the Church for the singing of Carols

• Keep children from climbing onto the Town fountain

• Distribute programs to crowd prior to and during event

 

COCOA COMMITTEE (4 to 6 members)
(See separate procedures)

 

HOLIDAY GREENS (4 to 6 members);
(See separate procedures)

 

PUBLICITY

• Contact Cricket editor early mid-October so she knows who is doing the publicity and schedule a Sponsor-A-Bulb (SAB) notice in the Scott Oil community events space in an early November issue; get SAB donation envelope and previous Cricket articles from Festive Program Chair for examples of what to include.

• Submit introductory article to Cricket on the Monday before the first Thursday in November: all info about Tree Lighting and SAB program.

• Submit header article every Monday from then on through day after tree lighting; each will lead into list of donations received that week; Erika will provide them if you don’t, so work it out with her.

• Submit big “Thank You” article to Cricket on the day after the Program: basically, repeat the program’s listings of committee members, performers, and all the help received to put on the show; may be written by the Festive Program Chair.