Keeping the lights on over Merrick

The Merrick Chamber of Commerce has started a GoFundMe page to keep its Holiday Lights Program lit despite the pandemic. Each winter, the chamber installs 70 life-sized snowflakes on utility poles that line the main streets in Merrick’s business districts, spreading holiday cheer in front of local businesses where residents may go gift-shopping.

But because the chamber’s annual Kids Fest and Fall Festival were canceled this year to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the lights are in danger of going out, according to past President Julie Marchesella, who owns Queen of Hearts, a plus-sized formal wear store, on Merrick Avenue.

“We depend on the festivals to provide the money for the installation, repairs and storage of the lights,” Marchesella said. “Having a store on Merrick Avenue with so many shopping online, the lack of lights gives more people a reason to not want to shop downtown — there’s no holiday flavor.”

Earlier this year, Merokean Joe Baker, who sits on the chamber’s board of directors, was named chairman of the Holiday Lights Committee. Each week he makes rounds to residents and business owners asking for donations for the fundraiser. Installing, removing, storing and maintaining the snowflakes, Baker said, costs the chamber between $15,000 and $20,000 per year.

“A lot of people assume [the program] is funded through the town or the county, and that’s not so,” he said. “Just to install a bracket and hook it up to the electric costs $200 per utility pole. Every time that bucket truck has to go out, it costs us money. There’s a lot involved that people don’t realize.”

The history of Holiday Lights

The Holiday Lights Program has existed in Merrick for 40 years. It began when resident Gene Turk owned Gene’s Stag Shop, at 19 Merrick Ave., a haberdashery selling men’s clothing, hats and other accessories. Gene’s “lovely” wife Marion, Marchesella said, worked in the store with him.

The Merrick chamber was young in those days, and its members noted how other communities dressed up their downtowns for the holidays. This inspired Marion to start a collection for Merrick’s first-ever Holiday Lights Program.

“She took it upon herself to go door to door on Merrick Avenue asking store owners for a donation,” Marchesella said. “Although the program didn’t cost what it costs today, she managed to make enough money, and the chamber subsidized the rest.”

The lights were initially strung up across the width of Merrick Avenue, which changed once tractor-trailers were allowed to drive down the street, according to current chamber President Femy Aziz. The familiar snowflake design was introduced 35 years ago, under Doug Mills’s term as president, to reflect a more non-denominational look, Marchesella said.

“Fall Fest became an opportunity to raise the money we needed to purchase snowflakes” early on, she said. “No festivals, no lights.”

Marchesella recalled another year when the lights almost went out. In 2001, when she was president, the chamber was set to hold Fall Fest’s opening ceremony on Friday, Sept. 14, three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

“We couldn’t think about having a celebration when we had members of our community who were missing,” she said. “That Friday we had a prayer ceremony instead and canceled the festival.”

The chamber rescheduled the festival for the end of October 2001 and used the proceeds to support the program that winter. “We decided as a board that the community would be very bleak without Holiday Lights, as sad as we were,” Marchesella said. “It gives the community a sense of togetherness.”

Last year, the Board of Directors discussed revamping the program with a vendor who envisioned upgraded snowflakes and elaborately decorated lampposts to brighten Merrick’s business district, but Covid-19 had other plans.

“We intended to have very elaborate decor on Merrick Road and Merrick Avenue this year,” Aziz said, “but something is better than nothing.”

Asking for help

Last month, Baker emailed community members to inform them the chamber had raised about 50 percent of its goal to fund installation of the lights. Forty snowflakes have been installed so far — they can be found in front of businesses along Merrick Avenue between Merrick Road and Jerusalem Avenue, and east of Merrick Avenue on Merrick Road.

“We raised enough to give a down payment to the installer, but we’re hoping to get more funding to put the rest of them up before it’s too late,” Baker said. “Having the lights up would boost the spirit of the holiday season.”

Aziz said the chamber needs $2,500 to install the remaining 30 snowflakes; she also noted she was finding a vendor who may be willing to do the job for free.

Bringing the program to fruition, Marchesella said, could help instill a sense of community as people continue to social distance. “The lights bring in some sense of holiday given that we can’t gather,” she said, “and if this brings a light into somebody’s life, then let it continue.”

To donate, visit charity.gofundme.com/dont-let-the-lights-go-out.