The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ryan Fung/Collegian [Click to enlarge]

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce announced in a statement before Thanksgiving that its Annual Merry Maple celebration will be held Friday, Dec. 5 at 4 p.m.

The Merry Maple celebration begins a weekend-long festivity that includes music, shopping and eating since its start 30 years ago.

This year's event is planned to start at Kendrick Park, across from the Bertucci's restaurant on North Pleasant Street, with its first-ever children's parade, followed by Christmas carols, sung on the steps of Town Hall by the Amherst Regional Middle School Chorus at 4:30 p.m.

The University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band, led by George Parks, will lead all attendees to the Town Common for the lighting of the Merry Maple and a sing-along, set to start at 5 p.m.

The celebration is scheduled to end with a chance for people to meet Santa Clause and have hot cocoa at the Amherst History Museum on Amity Street at around 6.

"[The Merry Maple] has been Amherst's little version of holiday spirit and community spirit and rather than having a Christmas tree, at this non-denominational family festival we use our town's maple in the Common," said Tony Maroulis, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce.

"It's an inclusive event. I mean, yes, there's Christmas caroling, but it's a communitywide event and we recognize that there are a number of different religious traditions in town and so that's what this is all about," he said in a telephone interview.

The event kicks off the annual Greeting Card Shopping Day, an annual promotion in which downtown businesses and restaurants offer one item in their respective establishments for 20 percent off. It will be held Dec. 6.

According to Maroulis, who has held his position since September, the Merry Maple celebration is co-sponsored by Promoting Downtown Amherst (PDA) and Family Outreach in Amherst.

Maroulis said the PDA is a group of downtown banks, retailers and restaurateurs that deal with promoting the commercial interests of the area.

"They're involved in pretty much everything - from Halloween Fest to the Taste of Amherst [held every June]," he said. "Their resources go to promoting the town, downtown specifically. But, of course, the downtown is at the center of this 27-square-mile wonderful town that we live in."

He said Family Outreach in Amherst is a social service organization dedicated to caring for Amherst's families in need by providing them with food and clothing.

The organization will use the Merry Maple celebration as a toy drive donation location, where people can bring new and unwrapped toys, books and games to be given to children in need in Amherst.

According to the statement, the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce's mission is to create, maintain and promote a thriving business environment in the Amherst area and to support the civic, educational, recreational and economic well-being on the town

Domenic Poli can be reached dpoli00@gmail.com.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools