Pocomoke Ramps Up Christmas Cheer

Thank you Mayor Morrison for deciding to go the extra mile for downtown Pocomoke!  I remember many years of Christmas' in downtown Pocomoke and I know how enchanting they can be.  What a wonderful idea Mayor Morrison, Angela Manos, (Pocomoke City Downtown Coordinator), and everyone else that has added some small idea to this week of an enchanted Christmas.  (I've never ridden in a sleigh and I can't wait!)

Written by

Brian Shane

Staff Writer

POCOMOKE CITY -- When the Outer Banks hamlet of Manteo, N.C., held its latest Christmas tree lighting last December, the light bulbs went off for Bruce Morrison, too.

"They're this tiny little town," said the first-term Pocomoke City mayor, who has had a home there for years, "and I saw them bring out 1,000 people for a Christmas tree lighting, and I thought, why can't we do this in Pocomoke?"

Inspired by what he saw, Morrison has masterminded a brand-new holiday experience for his downtown.

They're loosely calling it Christmas Week in Pocomoke, and organizers hope the old-fashioned holiday celebration will be the start of a grand annual tradition for the Friendliest Town on the Eastern Shore.

"I see other small towns doing things -- Berlin doing things, Snow Hill doing things -- I need to step up and think out of the box to do things for our town," he said.

It will begin Nov. 28 with the annual Pocomoke Christmas Parade, an event that's stood on its own for almost 40 years. Other holiday events are being scheduled during that week, including home tours.

The festivities wrap up on Dec. 2 with "An Old-Fashioned Christmas Evening" in front of City Hall, where Santa Claus will be visiting, a bonfire will be roaring and a horse-drawn carriage will be touring the holiday decorations.

"It was something I've been thinking about," Morrison said. "I've been trying to find ways to promote our downtown. This was my whole thing when I became mayor -- I was going to work on revitalizing downtown Pocomoke. We need people to visit and come eat and do things in our town."

Angela Manos, Pocomoke's downtown coordinator, says the town hopes to build momentum on the success of other revitalization efforts, including their Fall Festival.

"This is the first real Christmas event we've had outside of the parade," she said. "We think that it's important, not only for the business leaders and officials to believe in what we're doing, but also the residents. If the residents don't feel good about their town, we're not going to have the visitors come, so we need both."

Manos said they considered having some sort of festival of lights, but it was too expensive. Rather, they are considering buying one piece of light-up animation, which will be placed along the river for display.

"When we were thinking of this event, we were thinking of that movie 'A Christmas Story,'" Manos added. "It seems like collectively, everyone loves that movie. We thought it would be so nice to have a warm feeling around Christmastime, like it was in the '50s. We really want to build on the collective goodwill and spirit that's around the holidays."

She said the primary focus of Christmas Week is to ensure residents are enjoying their downtown.

"You talk to a lot of people who have been residents of Pocomoke City their entire lives, they talk about yesteryear a lot. When people talk about Pocomoke City as a downtown, they talk about Mayberry. Even the younger generation, they like the idea of having a quaint downtown. That community spirit that you know your neighbor, you can count on your neighbor, so we're trying to return to that."

The Downtown Pocomoke Association is working with the city, and already a handful of stores are committed to participating in the event.

They include Enchanted Florist, Lusby's Appliances, Mar-Va Theater, Robinanne's Quilting Service, Salty Dog Grooming, Scher's Bridal and the Delmarva Discovery Center. Several free activities, as well as free s'mores and hot dogs, will be available. Meeting Santa Claus also will be free.

Downtown businesses will be collecting canned goods for the Samaritan Shelter. Bringing a can to the Christmas event gets a person a free glass of wine or soda.

Source;  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20111117/WCT06/111170329/Pocomoke-ramps-up-Christmas-cheer?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Worcester County Times|p