PARIS — Building off the momentum from the More at Moore Halloween event, the Paris Renewal Committee and members of the community are prepared to “Light Up Moore Park” this weekend.

The first ever Christmas event will take place at 4 p.m. after the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Parade at the Paris park on Route 26. There will be music, including caroling, refreshments of hot cocoa and possibly apple cider, and maybe even a visit from Santa Claus.

Rick Little, member of the committee who’s in charge of lights and volunteers, said talk about hosting an event during the holidays has been in the works for a couple of months now.

“As soon as the sun goes down Saturday, we’re going to light up the park,” he said.

He noted there’s a need for more community events in Paris.

“It’s like the last event – there was a void in our town for community spirit. … Unfortunately it seems like a lot of people think we have a drive through town here. … It’s amazing once you start doing stuff, people really react. We’re really happy with it,” Little said. “We were amazed at [More at Moore]. We thought 35 kids were going to show up. There were hundreds.”

Volunteers showed up at the park on Sunday to help decorate it, which includes displaying Christmas light balls created by the Miller and Creaser families, stringing lights on the gazebo and around the park, decorating trees with red and green lights, along with a special blue tree to honor people in uniform, as members of the Paris Police Department helped decorate as well, Little said. Prowire Inc. donated a bucket truck to light up the taller trees.

“Jamie [Hutchinson] of the highway department has been very supportive of our events. He’s been very helpful. We couldn’t do a lot of stuff without his help,” Little said, adding Town Clerk Liz Knox has assisted as well. “We couldn’t have done this without the town also. They got power in here.”

Another business integral to lighting up the park is Aubuchon Hardware in Norway.

“Aubuchon has been great because at the last minute when we were figuring out what we were doing – it is hard to get a lot of the same type of lights – they went above and beyond,” Little said.

Little said he’s still working on the timers for the lights, but he hopes children join in on the fun on Saturday.

“I would love if some kids showed up and the kids plugged the trees in,” he said, noting it’s not as impressive if adults do the honors. “It would be nice to have the kids involved.”

He reiterated with how impressed he is with the outpouring of support for events at the park. The plan is to host an “Eggstravaganza” there around Easter time.

“The community has been extremely supportive.,” Little said. “A lot of people have donated without being asked. The businesses we have asked have been extremely generous.”

But just because some have stepped up doesn’t mean others can’t join the effort.

“Anybody that wants to volunteer, help out, we would welcome it,” Little said.

Donations can be dropped off at Rainbow Federal Credit Union, which he said has been wonderful to work with. Just note the money is for the Paris Renewal Committee account and what project the donation should go towards.

Anyone wanting to volunteer at Saturday’s event can message Little on Facebook or call him at 461-0379.

eplace@sunmediagroup.net

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