Melrose Neighborhood Brightens Up Holiday Season

MELROSE, MA — This year could be roughly divided into two parts: Darkness and bright spots. This weekend in the Horace Mann neighborhood, there were about 2,000 bright spots.

Dozens of residents on Saturday helped line several streets with luminaries — paper bags illuminated by candles within — an expansion of a recent tradition that has taken on new meaning during the pandemic.

"It's kind of the perfect pandemic celebration," said Erin Drogan, who spearheads the annual lighting. "It's outside, it's naturally socially distant and I think this year everyone was home, which is usually a hard thing during the holidays."

Drogan brought the tradition to Melrose from her old neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, where she grew up using milk cartons instead of paper bags.

A couple years ago she decided to try it in the Horace Mann neighborhood. At first it was just a couple blocks, then a couple more — and this year it hit new heights. Small, softly glowing bags lined Howard, Cochrane, Damon, Cranmore, Boardman, Pearl, Lovell and Ruggles streets.

The neighborhood had some pent-up holiday cheer to spread. The close-knit community had to skip its usual block party and Easter egg hunt (Drogan has 5,000 Easter eggs in her attic) for obvious reasons.

"It's a great opportunity to see everyone coming together and sharing a sense of community when we've been able to do so few of these things this year."

Drogan certainly has help. Lisa Bergeron, MaryCat Boyett, Maureen Burnham, Wendy Healy, Cara Fauci, Heidi Hood, Kristen Schreck and Stacey Babb were among the organizers.

"It was very gratifying seeing the helping 'tree' form," said Bergeron, who organized Howard Street alongside Kathy Vines and Jill Dempsey. "People just seemed to naturally grab hold and extend their hands to others."

Turning on a neighborhood-wide night light once a year is a team effort — each person working like part of an assembly line with a different task to fulfill. There was prepping the bags and filling them with sand to anchor them, flattening the snow mounds upon which the lights would rest, lighting the candles, etc.

For the organizers — and onlookers — it's undoubtedly worth it.

"We are so happy we took a stroll with the kids last night," Ward 2 City Councilor and longtime Horace Mann resident Jeff McNaught said. "It could not have been a more beautiful, winter setting for the luminary display put on by some pretty amazing neighbors and Horace Mann families.

"We are very appreciative of their efforts that provided a night of joy during a much needed time. One could not have thought of a more perfect socially distanced way to celebrate the holiday season with friends and families."

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.