Christmas on the Common

Posted by leicesterfcc

December 2, 2014

Leicester to host
‘Christmas on the
Common’

LEICESTER — Leicester’s19th annual Christmas on the Common will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6.
The Tree Lighting at the Bandstand will start at 6 p.m. with some caroling at the band- stand to be continued inside the historic First Unitarian Church on the Common.
At 7 p.m. a free Christmas Concert will begin at the First Congregational Church, also on the Common.
The concert program features the choral cantata “Hope of the Broken World,” a Christmas musical presented by the Christian Community Choir, directed by Linda Cross. A col- lation follows by the Women’s Association of the Church.
This is the 19th year of cel- ebrating Christmas on the Common. It is a collaboration of the Bandstand Committee, the Leicester Historical Society, and the Music Committee of the First Congregational Church on the Common. It is always held on the first Saturday in December — a kickoff to the holiday season.
The Bandstand Committee and members of the Summer Concert Series Committee team up to spruce up the Bandstand, making sure all lights are work- ing, etc., and set up a tree and get it wired with lights for the evening. Local Girl Scouts under the leadership of Dawn Emery, provide all the ornaments for the tree.
Part of the event also includes the introduction of the Historical Society Scholarship recipient to the crowd at the Bandstand. That young person then has the honor of throwing the switch for the lighting of the tree for the season.
The 7 p.m. performance at the First Congregational Church will feature more than 50 vocal- ists from 16 local churches. They represent choirs from St. Aloysius-St. Jude Parish, Covenant Evangelical Church, Journey Community Church, St. Joseph’s Parish, Brookfield Congregational Church, Mary, Queen of the Rosary Church, St. John the Baptist, East Brookfield Baptist Church, Epworth United Methodist Church, First Congregational Church of Leicester, Lowell Assembly of God, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, St. Anne’s, First United Methodist Church of Spencer, North Brookfield Congregational, First Congregation Church of Spencer.
This choir has been practic- ing since October, and will be performing this special pro- gram five different times during the holiday season. The per- formance in Leicester will be the first, followed by Dec. 14 at East Brookfield Baptist Church at 4 p.m., Dec. 28 at Overlook Masonic Home in Charlton at 2 p.m. and Jan. 4 at St. John the Baptist Church Catholic Church in East Brookfield at 2 p.m.