Uncertain future for Christmas parade, Halloween events

The Wareham Village Association has enough funds to hold its three annual events — Trick or Treat down Main Street, the scarecrow competition and the Christmas Parade — one last time in 2025, after which it will be out of money, Director Tracy McGraw said.

The remaining funds are all from donations made before the 2020 Covid pandemic, the last time the association received community support. Since then, McGraw's family has covered a large portion of the event costs, with the remaining funds only covering the cost of the police details for the events.

The 2024 Christmas parade drew thousands to Main Street and cost the association $2,200. More than half of that, $1,200, went toward the police detail and was covered by the organization’s remaining funds. McGraw’s family covered the rest.

Additionally, McGraw’s family spent $1,000 on the wreaths mounted along Main Street for the Christmas season.

Similarly, for the Halloween season, McGraw’s family purchases glowsticks, candy and other assorted decorations for Trick or Treat down Main Street and the Scarecrow competition.

“I don't mind doing the work for it. But the organization should not continue being funded by my family,” McGraw said.

Prior to the pandemic McGraw would solicit business owners for funding, like Gateway Tavern owner Joe Sauro who McGraw said would contribute $500 to the village association annually.

“It's hard for me, my conscience, to go to businesses asking them for money,” McGraw said. “Everyone's still rebounding from [Covid], everyone has just started to learn to navigate a different way of operating their business. I just can't, in goodwill, walk into these places and say, ‘can you support me in the WVA so I can keep running these events?’”

In the past, the Wareham Village Association also relied on members who paid an annual fee to fund the events and volunteer their time. However, McGraw said that hasn't been the case since well before the pandemic, and these days the events are organized and run by McGraw and a small group of her friends.

Looking forward, McGraw said she plans to apply for two grants that fund community events and could provide over $1,000 if the village association qualified.

She said she also plans to meet with the Town Administrator, Derek Sullivan, to make him aware of the village associations funding situation and the expenses borne by her family.

“I want to drum up support for the organization. I want to be able to keep doing these three events without my family, we need to be able to remove them,” McGraw said.

McGraw said she doesn’t want to make any changes to the events themselves, or charge entrants to the Christmas parade.

“I don't want to start charging because I think the little parade that I run is beautiful, it's quaint, it's just, a small parade for a small town,” McGraw said.