<!--Michele Deluca--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Michele Deluca</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com">michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
A request for residents to help “light up the Falls,” has been made by planners of the Holly Trolley so that the city will be sparkling when the trolley makes it tree-lighting tour Dec. 4.
The second annual Holly Trolley will carry dignitaries and carolers throughout the city to help light the community trees sponsored by various neighborhood groups. Planners hope residents will join in the holiday celebration by putting lights on their businesses and residences.
“You don’t have to go out there and put up a ton of lights,” said one of the event’s planners, Mary Jo Zacher. “Just make it look welcoming and cheery.”
This year — the second for the event — will include actual trolleys, Zacher said. Last year’s “trolley” was actually two school buses, but the planning committee has obtained two trolleys from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority for this year’s tour.
Trolley riders will include Mayor Paul Dyster and city officials including City Administrator Donna Owens, who is helping to plan the event, as well as any council members who wish to join the excursion.
Owens requested that those who gather at the tree lighting locations consider bringing canned goods or toys for the needy.
“It’s a chance for the community to express their holiday cheer,” she said. “There’s a lot to cheer about. We’re so blessed,” she added noting that many positive things have happened this year in the city, including improvements to the city infrastructure, positive attention from the state and federal government and more businesses opening on Main Street.
The trolleys will begin the tour at 4 p.m. when City Hall will be lit for the holiday season. Each stop will take about 15 minutes.
“The whole point of this is to get people out of the house, out on the streets of their neighborhoods,” Zacher said. “We just want Niagara Falls to be a bright light.”
The Holly Trolley planners also are seeking a small choir to accompany the riders. At each location there will be a brief celebration, some caroling and a tree lighting ceremony. They are also seeking residents with period costumes for the event.
The trolleys will begin the tour at 4 p.m. when City Hall will be lit for the holiday season. Each stop will take about 15 minutes.
The stops include: City Hall, the Rainbow Avenue Roundabout, the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center, the City Market; Gill Creek; Highland Avenue and Main Street at the Niagara Falls Public Library.
Those who wish to volunteer to help with the event are asked to call the city administrator’s office at 870-7994.
