Rotary supplies holiday spirit and Santa at Rusty Parker Park
December 1, 2022 | By Dan McKibben and Al Lewis
Santa resumes in person visits at Rusty Parker Park on Sunday, Dec. 11. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The Waterbury Rotary Club has been creating holiday joy in our community for many years. The club organizes many events including Santa’s visit, Not Quite Independence Day, Arbor Day tree plantings, the Easter egg hunt, Sunzilla, and Pie for Breakfast. OK, we realize that Pie for Breakfast isn’t really a holiday, but some lovers of pie think it should be. (Pie for Breakfast will be returning on Feb. 11, by the way.)
The Rotary Santa Claus event has been going on longer than many residents can recall, however it’s not the only way the Rotary Club brightens our town this time of year. (More on that below.)
Santa’s visit has been held for many years outside at Rusty Parker Park, which can be a lovely setting, or cold, or wet, or all the above. The event was moved to the Waterbury Senior Center for a few years, and for the last two years, it was a drive-by event due to the pandemic and the need to social distance.
This year, the club is delighted to be again hosting an outside, out-of-our-cars visit with Santa and his elves. It will be held on Sunday, Dec. 11, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Rusty Parker Park.
The park will be decorated with special displays for this event and there will be hot chocolate to help keep you warm. Santa will be sitting in his sleigh to meet with children and pose for photos. As is the tradition for this event, Santa’s elves will have a present for every child who visits. We encourage everyone who received a Santa hat at last year’s drive-by event to wear it.
Everyone of all ages is invited to come and enjoy the festive atmosphere with our Rotary Club and neighbors.
Waterbury’s ‘tree’ seen for miles
The Rotary holiday "tree" behind Brookside Primary School shines on a clear cool night under a crescent moon just after Thanksgiving. Photo by Paul Willard
Another lesser-known way that the Rotary Club brightens our town for the holidays is on top of Wissel Mountain. Many of you are probably wondering where Wissel Mountain is, and what the Rotary Club does there. Well, if you’re driving south on Interstate 89 this time of year, as you approach Exit 10, the lighted “tree” you see behind the primary school is on Wissel Mountain, and it’s provided as a service by the Rotary Club.
It is believed that Waterbury Rotarians first erected and lit up a tree for the holidays on Wissel Mountain shortly after I-89 was completed between Middlesex and Waterbury. The Rotary Club’s Holiday Decorations committee installed a telephone pole with colored light strings strung from the top to simulate a Christmas tree which was highly visible by all motorists traveling north to Waterbury and specifically Waterbury residents coming home to visit for the December holidays.
Around 1990, while getting the original holiday tree ready to light up, it was observed that the wood telephone pole had rotted at the base and was no longer safe to maintain. Natural trees had also grown up around the pole making the tree lights less visible, so the Rotarians sought a new location for the simulated Christmas tree.
They chose a new spot behind what is now Brookside Primary School, where a flagpole was erected. Since then, each year during warm months the flagpole flies an American flag supplied by Waterbury’s American Legion post. In November right after Thanksgiving, the flag is replaced with a system of colored light strings that are raised up the pole.
This “tree” behind the school is a holiday beacon through the month of December into mid-January. This Waterbury Rotary Club tradition has been going on for more than 50 years thanks to dedicated Rotarians and their family members.
To learn more about the Rotary Club and our events, go to waterburyvtrotary.org.
Dan McKibben and Al Lewis are members of the Waterbury Rotary Club.