To the Editor:

I want to publicly acknowledge all the wonderful folks who helped make Christmas on Main Street such a wonderful event, and all the citizens of our town who came out to take part.

With the scavenger hunt, parade, tree lighting, caroling with Santa Claus, cookies and cocoa, and a performance by Toe Jam Puppet Band, there was so much going on, yet things went off smoothly and I’ve heard a lot of great feedback from town officials and citizens. There were hundreds of people all throughout the downtown area, which shows the spirit in our community.

Thank you to the Gateway Chamber of Commerce for their work on the first of what will be the annual Festival of Trees. Thank you to the many great local businesses for their beautiful entries. Turning Point was thrilled to receive $400 to help with the needs of many going through a difficult time especially during the holidays.

Thank you to Wareham Week publisher Anne Eisenmenger and Lori Benson of Jack Conway Real Estate for serving as judges for our parade entrants. With so many great floats and participants, their job was not easy!

Thanks to all who participated in the parade, including the trophy winners. In the Most Creative category, the winners were Jacks Are Wild (first), the Boys and Girls Club (second), and Lindsey’s Restaurant (third); in the Most Spirit, it was Gateway Youth Hockey (first), the Wareham Tigers (second) and the Jr. OBA (third); and in Most Fitting the Theme of “Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes,” it was Daisy Troop 80648 (first), Baker School of Dance (second), and the Old Company Store and Tihonet Village Market (third).

Thank you to Tim Weisberg, for his invaluable help to bring us the biggest and best Christmas parade in years; Chris Consoletti and John Dillen for ensuring it went off without a hitch; Demetrios and George Kalkanas of Minerva’s for generously giving away 1,000 slices of pizza; South Shore Generator; Morse Lumber; J&R Towing; Cox Candy; Dunkin’ Donuts; TD Bank; Eastern Bank; Gallery Consignment; Sail Away Studio; the U.S. Post Office; Old Company Store; Little People’s College; Tihonet Village Market; Shirt Shack; Shaw’s Supermarket; Stop & Shop; Linda Gay; Karen Tamagini; Amy and Jonathan Lanczycki; Margaret Phillips; Laurina Luppino; Norma Bloxson; Larry Gaines; Bob White; Sharon Boyer; Dr. Barry Rabinovitch; Principal Scott Palladino; Henry St. Julien; Susan and David Green; Susan and Bernie Sohn; Patricia Muraco; Eleanor Martin and the Jr. Onset Bay Association; Wareham Community Television; Tom Monaghan; the Municipal Maintenance Department, including Mark Gifford, Joe Edwards, Frank Bergamasco and all the guys who did a fabulous job getting Town Hall ready for our event; the Wareham Police Department and Honor Guard; the Wareham Fire Department and Honor Guard; the Onset Fire Department; Rep. Susan Williams Gifford; Mark Andrews; Walter Cruz; Cara Winslow; Steve Holmes; Myles Burke; Kevin Walsh; Teddy Mathews and Livin’ On a Bad Name for rocking the parade; Pebbles and the JAM’N 94.5 promotions staff; and finally to the Toe Jam Puppet Band for a wonderful performance,

The Wareham Village Association will debut a retooled website in January (www.warehamvillageassociation.com) which will include a version specifically designed for the latest technology with smart phones and tablets.  We also invite you to “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@warehamvillage).  We hope this will keep you updated with events and increase the revenue of our local merchants in Wareham Village.

It has been my pleasure working with each and every one of you.

Cheers to 2012!

Jackie Lindsey