For the first time, three signature events of the holiday season – Home for the Holidays, the Rollinsford-South Berwick Christmas Parade, and lighting of the town Christmas tree – were combined into one day on Saturday, Dec. 2.
If the strong turnout of families and individuals congregating near and around Main Street was any indication, the event was a hit. Downtown South Berwick turned into a holiday wonderland with a bustling marketplace and playground, merchants offering deals on regular and holiday-themed merchandise and businesses and churches sponsoring treats and activities for children all day.
Among the special events around town, the Sarah Orne Jewett House offered public tours of the famous writer’s home, while volunteer Linda Becker read children’s books to an attentive audience of parents and children. Affinity Spa offered discounted massage coupons and A Little Something gift shop created a Christmas Market outside, featuring hot spiced wine, inspired by the Christkindlesmarkts of Germany.
At the public library, the Danielle Moura Quintet gave a jazz performance for adults while children wrote letters to Santa. “We love it, everything happening around town,” said Annaleigh Halldorson, there with her 5-year-old daughter Ava. “It’s been a very good day.”
Out on Main Street, volunteers with the Old Berwick Historical Society dressed in historical costumes wandered through the crowd in character, telling their stories to revelers. Historical figures included Jewett, her sister Mary, and George Gray, a Scottish prisoner of war.
Under sunny skies in mid-afternoon, both sides of Main street from Lower Main to Academy Street thronged with spectators as the Christmas Parade made its way from Rollinsford through downtown, the Marshwood High School marching band stepping lively. Other marchers included the Little Hawks Softball Team, SoBo Central, Marshwood Great Works School, Girl Scout Troop 1411, local churches, businesses, and a fleet of fire engines from South Berwick, Rollinsford, Eliot and Berwick.
After another hour of children’s activities, food booths, a dance performance, and caroling on the Central School lawn, the festivities were capped with the lighting of the towering Christmas tree on the lawn of South Berwick Town Hall.
(Staff photos) Participating in Saturday’s downtown festivities are members of more than a dozen local businesses and non-profit organizations. Top row from left, Marshwood Little Hawks Football and Cheer program; Little League Softball program; and Curtain Call Performing Arts Academy. Bottom row from left, Seacoast Christian School; Girl Scout Troop 1411; and Berwick Academy.
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