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Lincoln Ave. decorated by handful of helpers
Committee chair urges community to 'bury the hatchet'
By Kate Carter
Lincoln Avenue looked great for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony last Thursday, but only a few Willow Glen businesses and residents deserve the thanks.
The decorations are an annual tradition sponsored by the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association in an effort to increase holiday cheer and customer traffic to the stores in the business district.
The lighted garlands, wreaths and lanterns along the downtown corridor were hung with care by city officials, decorations committee chair Frank Schapairo and a few of Schapairo's friends and relatives, he said.
And not too many of them were there.
A small, though stalwart, group of Willow Glen residents, business owners and employees joined Schapairo and his cohorts. The group included people from two Lincoln Avenue businesses, a church group and a couple of neighbors.
"If it weren't for me and my personal friends, this wouldn't have happened," said Schapairo, who is not a member of the business association. "I was hoping that there would be more participation from the residents. It would've been nicer if we had more volunteers."
Schapairo said he scheduled city employees to come to Lincoln Avenue after dark on Nov. 25, to check the lights on the trees and electrical connections for the lights on the arbors and across the street. He also asked for volunteers to show up at the old China Palace restaurant building during the day and help him put together the garlands and wreaths and hang them up.
The day started poorly, however, when the three city employees arrived at 7:45 a.m. instead of 7:45 p.m. They ended up staying until 6 p.m., though, Schapairo said.
He said the city workers were able to activate most of the strands of lights across Lincoln Avenue. But the lights on the trees "still don't work," he said, because there isn't enough wattage to power them, and the wires that were strung last year have been broken by the growth of the tree trunks.
But Schapairo isn't complaining about the city's help.
"They worked a lot of overtime and they didn't charge me," he said. "They scored for me."
However, Schapairo was disappointed by the lack of participation by Willow Glen business association members and residents.
He said about 20 people showed up for 10 hours of work that day, refurbishing garlands and stringing them with new lights, ribbon and ornaments. With five people on each garland, the group was able to hang four of them.
"The garland hasn't been up in several years," Schapairo said. "It was a good effort within my crew."
Among those who did help out were the owners of Women Kickin' It, some employees from Dulce Spazio, members of the men's club at the Stone Church, several Willow Glen residents who are friends of Schapairo, and even some of his friends who don't live in Willow Glen.
Schapairo said he thanked the volunteers by picking up the $140 tab to buy lunch for everyone.
And he still had work to do after Saturday, assembling and hanging wreaths on the arbors and lanterns on the light posts.
Schapairo said he was happy with the large number of donations Lincoln Avenue businesses offered to help raise money for future decorating efforts. The donations were raffled off during the tree lighting ceremony; money used to purchase raffle tickets will go into a business association bank account specifically to fund Lincoln Avenue's decorations, he said.
Schapairo has already promised to chair next year's decorating committee.
"I have the exact knowledge of what needs to be done," he said. "Things will run smoother and I'll have more time to rally the troops."
Schapairo said the reason people don't want to help in the business association's efforts is because they've been let down by the association in the past. But for Willow Glen to be able to enjoy such things as holiday decorations, the community has to make a better effort, he said.
"It's really important to have both the neighborhood and the business community involved," Schapairo said. "Instead of people worrying about the past, it's time to bury the hatchet and work together."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
