Amherst Holiday Tree Campaign

The History

Looking into the history of the lighting of our town holiday tree, I discovered information written regarding this Amherst tradition. It was originally the idea of resident Richard Smith who headed a committee in the early 1960’s that composed a request for money for a community tree that would be strung with holiday lights, it also included funding of white window lights for the Town Hall building.  The results were magical, rumor has it the snow started to fall that night and a tradition was begun. The response to this single event was so generous that within 3 years candles, timers, a floodlight at the town hall, and other equipment had been purchased.  Many in the village followed suit. The committee planning the event continued to function under the direction of Mrs. Hamilton Dunbar for several years and then dissolved. 

 A “Christmas Celebration Coordination Committee” was needed, and the Amherst Junior Women’s Club were willing to take it on. Selectmen Peter Lyon recalls his dad, Elliot and Harding Sortevik helping this group, placing the lights on the tree for several years. It was organized in 1965 so that residents met by the tree on a Sunday at 5pm and when the lights went on during the carol sing all the houses along the green would put their window candles on. 

The tree across from the Brick School became the town tree from 1975-2009 and the Town Fire Department did the placing of the lights with their ladder truck.   The tree grew to be quite large and hard to fill with lights, it also was diseased and eventually the tree used by the Amherst Garden Club became the town tree until 2015. Once again disease struck this tree, and the committee was in search of another tree to use.  The Amherst Garden Club was willing to let the town use the tree they called their “Memory Tree”. It was in a perfect location with our beautiful Town Hall behind it. The fire department continued to place lights on the tree through 2020. Over the many years the fire department lit the tree, the tree continued to grow, making it difficult to put the lights on safely using their truck. 

Realizing the tree could look better with a dedicated group of residents to put the lights on the tree, the fire department relinquished its job of lighting the tree, to a volunteer group who had some experience. Marti Warren brought together her husband Tom, Jim and Maureen Minner, Dennis McGivern, Rick Crocker, Tilea Toy, Jeanne Johnson, and John Bement to make the 2021 Holiday Tree a breathtaking reminder of our past holiday trees!

Our Plan

It is the hope of this volunteer group to raise money to cover the cost to maintain the lights on the tree as well as cover the cost of renting a lift to put them on and remove them come spring. While the lights (600) this year are not the LED variety, we are hoping next year to have twice as many lights and use a new kind of LED that is as bright and beautiful as the incandescent which are on the tree this year. By converting to these LEDs we avoid the problem of getting enough power to the tree and reduce the cost and environmental impact.

We would like to raise funds to cover our costs for the next 5 years or longer. Our plan for the future would be for new LED lights, possibly an additional electrical outlet under the tree, a new large star for the top, designed by a committee member specifically for our tree. We also need to rent a lift twice, to put the lights on and then in the spring remove them. We have talked with the town about planting new trees (several sizes) on the green, to make sure we always will have a tree available in the future. One would be a large tree, that in 4 years would be ready for lights, because trees are always growing, they grow to a point where they are no longer suitable to put lights on. The tree we are using right now is just over 20 years and just over 30 feet tall. I know this because it came from my yard as a 4 foot tree, when I donated it to the town.

Our Goal

We would like to raise $10,000 to keep this going for many years to come. The initial cost is around $3400.00 for the LED lights that we would like to use. The maintenance after that year will be considerably less. The rent of the lift for two occasions each year will be around $600.00 or $3000.00 for 5 years. Planting new trees also takes money, the balance approximately $3500.00 will be used for purchasing and planting trees on the green.

The tree lighting and festivities have always been done by a private group of volunteers, and although the town (fire, police & town hall) have helped in some ways, it really isn’t a town run function and receives no town funding. The 2021 Tree Lighting Festival was well attended. Our group is looking to make improvements, as time goes on. We are looking to privately raise funds for this event through donations. 

We hope you will consider a donation to this wonderful town tradition. You do not need to be a resident of Amherst to donate. Many of you reading this probably remember how you felt the first time Santa and the crowd did the count down for the switch to be thrown for the lights. It always brought a huge cheer and a “wow” and with your donation this can continue to be for many years to come.

Thank you for considering a donation to this wonderful holiday event. Certainly, a tradition we want to keep alive for our beautiful town.

FOR INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Please email Marti Warren, committee chair at martiwarren@comcast.net

Tax deductible pledges or donations may be mailed to address below
or made online by clicking on the donate button above.

Amherst Community Foundation
PO Box 256
Amherst NH 03031

Please reference “Holiday Tree” on the memo field if you send a check. Thank-you.