Melrose Chamber Grateful For 'Home For The Holidays'

The following was submitted by the Melrose Chamber of Commerce:

The Melrose Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Home for the Holidays was a wonderful way to begin the holiday season in Melrose! The Chamber is very grateful for the community’s continued participation in the many events that took place throughout the weekend.

Home for the Holidays, as with all of the Chamber’s signature community events, requires teamwork with many individuals, businesses, groups and organizations on both Friday night and Saturday. The Chamber offers our sincere thanks to the Home for the Holidays Presenting Event Sponsors, Edward Jones Investments and The Kim Perrotti Team Leading Edge. Financial support and enthusiasm from these two small businesses made the entire weekend possible.

Home for the Holidays would not happen without the continued support from the City of Melrose, especially Mayor Paul Brodeur. We are so grateful to the Department of Public Works who, along with LCM Plus, assisted with the beautiful annual tree lighting on City Hall lawn, the Melrose Fire Department who safely escorted Santa into downtown on Friday night and the Melrose Police Department for ensuring another safe community event. We also thank Kathy Pigott Brodeur of Melrose Memorial Hall for her assistance with the many logistics on Friday night. Collaboration with these individuals and departments makes Home for the Holidays a smooth, safe and fun event and we are truly lucky to have such outstanding leadership in Melrose.

The Chamber is grateful to the following individuals, organizations and business partners who contributed their time and talents to make the weekend memorable: Santa’s Friday night host and transportation coordinator: Edward Jones Investments; the drummers from the Melrose High School marching band who led the way for Santa and talented members of the MHS band who played festive music in front of CVS on Friday evening; the Melrose Family YMCA for their logistical assistance on Friday night; Tim Kochanski, for creating a fun Friday evening and providing entertainment for the Friday evening crowd at the City Hall lawn; the Lt. Norman Prince VFW for pre-event support; Sue McNamara for all of her efforts at Cedar Park; Bob Boisselle and Raj Das, ED Photography. Many thanks also go to DJ Sean Naughton of NuImage Entertainment for bringing a lot of fun energy to our event throughout the weekend.

We sincerely thank the 2021 trolley sponsors, as these businesses and organizations make the free trolley rides on Saturday possible: Bell & Izzi, Century 21 Sexton & Donahue, Certified Automotive Solutions, Eastern Bank, Fitzgerald Physical Therapy Associates, Gately Funeral Home, Giacomo's Ristorante, Gray's Appliance, Hinge Fitness, Home Instead Senior Care, MassJunk, Melrose Glass Company, MelroseWakefield Healthcare, MMTV, North Shore Elder Law & Estate Planning, Pegasus Design-to-Build, The Residence at Melrose Station, Turner’s Seafood Grill & Market, Robinson Funeral Home, Waggery on Main and Wakefield Co-operative Bank.

If you rode on one of the five trolleys around Melrose then you were entertained by members of our trolley crew who served as guides throughout the day, prepared the trolleys in the early morning or greeted riders at Cedar Park: Mayor Paul Brodeur, Jonathan Cincotta, Rainelle Comeau, Liz DeSelm, Diane Devivo, Jim Donahue, Jen Grigoraitis, Lisa Hudson, John Lecomte, Representative Kate Lipper- Garabedian, Brian Manning, Jen McAndrew, Charlie Melia, Leila Migliorelli, Jeff Newman, Joe Silva, Cory Thomas, John Tozza and Dorie Withey. The Chamber feels extremely lucky to have such enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers!

We thank the stores, restaurants, businesses, churches and schools who provided activities, refreshments, specials, and holiday cheer throughout the weekend! We hope the Melrose community will patronize the businesses, and give back to these community organizations, during the holiday season.

I personally thank the Melrose Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for providing their guidance for this Chamber event and for their continued dedication to our organization.

Finally, I thank my colleague, Kelly Lecomte, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help the Chamber pull off another wonderful community event. I send a huge hug to my family for their continued support of these events as it means they see much less of me during this time of year.

Thank you to all of those who had a hand in making the 2021 Home for the Holidays so spectacular! Best wishes for a holiday season full of joy, happiness and health.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Manning

Executive Director, Melrose Chamber of Commerce