Bridgton Rec Director Gary Colello understands the need to bring some type of normalcy during Covid-19 times.

With so many traditional events and activities being shelved due to the pandemic, Colello and other local residents tried to brainstorm to find creative ways to keep the annual Festival of Lights on the calendar.

“As Covid continues to affect our lives we balance out the ways to still offer programming and events for the community. Festival of Lights is a special event for the Town of Bridgton and has transformed over the years into a ‘go-to’ event and the second largest attended town event,” Colello said. “Santa and his elves visit, breakfast is served by our veterans, the librarians read special holiday books, the craft fair was a great way to shop local, and of course the holiday party in from of the library was always a great time. Let’s not forget all the great decorations put up by the storefronts and private homes. I know I enjoyed driving around to see it all.”

The point of the Festival of Lights was to celebrate the holiday season as a community, Colello said. Last year, an effort was to revamp the parade itself and the efforts were successful with over 25 different floats with hundreds of people on the streets to watch. 

But, how can these festive events survive a surge in Covid cases and the mandating of social distancing and limiting crowd sizes?

“Many people have submitted great ideas. Some will be great for a year when Covid is not a direct threat and others will be incorporated into the plans for this year,” Colello said. “Yes, we have plans.”

The Festival of Lights is always the first Saturday in December, which lands this year on Dec. 5.

Events tentatively planned include:

• Reverse Parade —Those who wish to participate will decorate a vehicle and the group will parade around town. Instead of going to the parade route, the parade will come to you — similar to what schoolteachers did at the end of the school year. 

“We will set a route and try and hit all of the major roads in town. We will also create different areas people can park throughout town if they live on a road the parade will not pass,” Colello said. “This will be an evening parade so people can see your lights! I am working with the school department to help me get a route that will hit most of the kids who go to school at SBES.” 

• Storefront/Private Home Decorating— Town businesses and many homes did a great job decorating last December. Along with the added decorated streetlights this year Bridgton can be a great spot for people to view holiday decorations. 

“Let us know your decorating and we will post a picture and something about your store on our Facebook page with 3,000 followers!” Colello said. “Participation to pick a winner last year was very low but it was great to see everyone decorating!”  

• Virtual Tree Lighting — The tree across the street from the library has been removed, so the tree lighting will take place in front of the Bridgton Community Center. 

“The ‘Town Tree’s’ life was close to over and posed a risk to falling. This year, we plan to decorate the tree in front of the Bridgton Community Center. This tree is going to be decorated to the max and will have more than just lights on it,” the rec director noted. “We are taking suggestions for a theme. We will be broadcasting the tree lighting on social media and hopefully LRTV.”

• Trivia Night — Try your luck with Holiday Trivia via Kaboom! and Zoom. What family/group will come out top? This will be a virtual program for Saturday evening.

Other ideasunder consideration include breakfast pick-up to go; scavenger hunt (which was very successful for Halloween); Bake Off — Live Video of Pie Tasting with judges; Cook Off — Live Video of Holiday Food with judges; Cookie Decorating Challenge via picture sent into the Rec Department; virtual craft fair, bingo, paint night, holiday sketch comedy show, holiday storytelling and talent show (a different version of the school one run in the spring).

Colello said more details on times, where and when will be developed over the next week. Colello continues to meet with other planners via Zoom, with the next virtual get together scheduled for tonight. Anyone with possible ideas or suggestions can contact Colello at Bridgton Rec.