Santa said in his 40 years of coming to East Greenwich for the annual tree lighting he’d never seen such a large crowd. It made for a very festive evening on Main Street, starting with the parade that brought Santa in on his traditional EG sled: a fire engine. The parade is a relatively new addition to the festivities and anyone can march.
The parade was led by the Kickin Brass Band. Dancers from both Providence Ballet Jr. and Konnect Dance Company performed in front of Town Hall, followed by carols sung by the St. Cecilia and Canterbury choirs of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Santa, of course, provided the icing on the cake.
Santa poses with newly christianed “elves.”
The Santa delivery system arrives at Town Hall. Photo by Tim Cure.
The crowd as Santa arrives.
Lit up.
Festive parade marchers.
Dancers perform before the tree lighting.
Time for Santa photos.
The St. Cecilia and Canterbury choirs perform before the tree lighting.
The scene on Main Street. Photo by Tim Cure.
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There definitely needs to be improvements next year to the parade. We were on the street in front of the green door and no one could hear a thing. Speakers definitely need to be used to hear the choir and for the tree countdown.
Also the tree was lit about 12 minutes earlier than they advertised. So many people come just for the lighting and not the other festivities. I saw so many disappointed people from missing the lighting and also not hearing anything that was going on. Alot of people in the crowd was asking what was going on.
First world problem but this could have been a million times better if it had been better planned out and stuck to the schedule they told everyone.
Theresa. Thank you for your comments. I totally agree the sound system has always been a challenge due to the nature of this venue. We invested in a portable blue tooth speaker this year which is great but with the size of crowds and area it was not loud enough. This event has become huge and for sure we will look into investing into a professional sound company to help next year for our performances, singers and speakers. The streets were packed and crowd was getting very large so yes we did decided to lit a bit early as folks seemed ready to roll and Main Street was getting over crowded. Definite improvements for next year but guess a great problem to have as this event is truly super special