By TAMMIE TOLER
PRINCETON — It’s beginning to look a lot like the Christmases of old on Mercer Street.
Newly purchased light ropes and festive wreaths installed by Princeton Public Works crews have added holiday spirit to the historic storefronts. Though the decorations are bright, brand new and energy efficient, they’re also a reminder of Princeton’s past, when old-fashioned lights stretched across the street every winter and businesses competed to show off their best seasonal displays.
“It really takes you back in time to the good ol’ days,” Princeton City Councilwoman Pat Wilson said. “I wish we had the activity on Mercer Street that we once had when those lights were there, but maybe we’ll get there someday.”
Wilson, a member of the Princeton Beautification Commission, was on the team that chose the strands of big, nostalgic bulbs that zig-zag across Mercer Street’s upper end and the faux candlelit wreaths that now herald the holiday season in Princeton’s historic downtown.
The project to purchase new Christmas decorations began in February, when the City of Princeton conducted its annual budget retreat to map out the fiscal year 2010 budget. During the process, City Council allocated $20,000 this year to fund the first installment in a holiday makeover.
“We’re trying to campaign for more,” Wilson said.
The first step furnished the light ropes and wreaths for all of Mercer Street, culminating at the Mercer County Courthouse. Although wreaths and ornaments for the utility poles on Thorn Street and Stafford Drive simply wouldn’t fit in the budget this year, city workers doubled up last year’s decorations in those areas, installing lighted snowflakes and reindeer banners on utility poles.
“Eventually, everything will be tied together,” Wilson said.
Marguerite Miller, a retired educator and lifelong Princetonian, greeted the adornments with sheer delight.
“I was thrilled to see them,” she said. “I think they’re pretty, and they look good.”
The lights do remind the local historian of the Christmases she spent growing up in Princeton, but she thinks today’s lights may be even better.
“I remember that sometimes they would put red lights near the traffic lights, and that could get confusing,” she said, laughing. “You didn’t know whether you should go or stop.”
She also enjoyed the wreaths this year, an addition she couldn’t recall during any of her 88 years before.
As a child, she was nearly certain the city only put up the multi-colored lights, since clear lights only gained popularity in recent years. And, most of the decorating was left to the businesses.
“The stores did their storefronts, and people did their homes,” she said. “Nobody said so, but they kind of tried to outdo each other every year.”
Elizabeth Osborne, owner and operator of Elizabeth’s Boutique, said the Christmas project just might start a trend downtown.
“They’re gorgeous,” she said, explaining that the lights have added positive energy to the atmosphere and friendly feeling downtown.
The lights should only brighten the night, but Osborne said they make a difference even in the day.
“They’re awesome. I like them a lot,” she said.
The lights are already lit nightly, but they’ll be on display in all their glory Nov. 30, when the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Parade rolls through town.
— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.
