Luminaries along Hodges Street at the close of Oriental's Spirit of Christmas celebration
A sailboat decorated with lighted forestay and backstay follows a lighted power boat in the Spirit of Christmas nighttime Boat ParadeAfter sunset today, a fleet of lighted and decorated boats paraded from Whittaker Creek to Oriental Marker No. 3 and back, as spectators watched from Lou-Mac Park and the South Avenue waterfront.
It was a bit difficult to capture the boats on camera as they passed about a half-mile away out in the Neuse River, but I like how the above time exposure shot shows the motion of the boat in the squiggly trails left by each of its many lights hanging along the forestay and backstay(check out the full size version to see the squigglies) They remind me of a seismograph output, or the medical monitors on the hibernation pods in "2001 Space Odyssey."
I have for the past few days been indulging in not quite sticking to the "Photo" (singular) part of the "City Daily Photo" concept, and I was tempted to do so again today...
But I must really stop that: that is why I have another blogsite, after all.
So, you can see more photos of tonight's Boat Parade, decorated boats, caroling crowd, and lighting of the "Spirit of Christmas Star" at my other blog, "The Dinghy Dock.""
Volunteers this afternoon assembled the 3000+ luminaries that will line Oriental streets for the Spirit of Christmas Parade coming up on Saturday.
I was not able to get pictures of the assembly in progress today, but all afternoon volunteers filled little plastic bags with sand from a 4 ton pile, placed the sandbags in the pre-folded luminary bags, and inserted the pre-lighted candles. (See Luminary Assembly, Part One in second prior post below, or click here)
Below you can see the meeting room at Town Hall filled with the assembled luminaries (undergoing final inspection by three young volunteers who helped make them)... The bags also overflowed into the Town Hall garage:
The first step in the assembly process was to fold 3000 bags and "pre-light" 3000 candles.
The candles were each lit and allowed to burn a few minutes before being blown out and put back in their boxes.
This makes it easier to light the thousands of candles once they are in their bags and in place along the streets.
While the candle lighting took place out on the lawn, other volunteers folded the bags on the deck and inside the Toucan bar.
Parade Elf Lori Wagoner displays the "Bag Folding 101" instructional poster Folding the tops of the bags down provides some structural rigidity to the luminaries. The army of volunteer bag folders enjoyed some beverages and fun company during the arduous task:
The next steps will be performed another day... filling little sandbags, placing the sandbags in the paper bags, placing the candles in the bags, and lining up the finished luminaries for delivery.
You can follow the whole process right here over the next few days.
I wish I knew the name of this band... I think it was "Hot Buttered" something or other...-30-
They were a vast improvement over the usual "wedding bands" that play around here (you know... everyone's favorite 50's, 60's, etc. pop tunes, from "Ride Sally Ride" to "Sweet Home Alabama")
I guess these guys might be called a "jam-band," whatever that means. The songs, instruments, lyrics and arrangements were far from the usual rock'n'roll standards bands that play the wedding receptions and Tiki Bar throughout the spring and summer.
This is the first live outdoor music since the contentious "noise ordinance" Town Board meeting of earlier in the week (See post of Dec. 2, below)
No word yet on any complaints. I sure had none for this band.
[12/09 Update: today's Pamlico News weekly newspaper reports complaints were made... the paper reports three different complaints, but doesn't make clear whether they all came from the same source or from different homes]
In any case, no rioting in the streets... just good music, a warm fire, and dozens of Christmas trees on the corner lot.
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