Oh come all ye faithless

Okay, can we recall the house movers and have them drag the Pastorello’s house (photo below) in South Amherst up to town center to better represent Amherst this holiday season?

I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and yeah, pissed off! The Merry Maple (not to be confused with a Christmas Tree) is hardly Merry. The Umass Marching Band was awesome as usual (and MY GOD they even played Christian yuletide standards) . Santa arrived on the Fire Department’s GIGANTIC Ladder Truck, and that too was pretty awesome. But let’s face it, the lighting display in Amherst town center rivals that of North Korea.

Shame on the cheapskate Chamber of Commerce; and the People's Republic of Amherst. Whippletree Lane is the place to be:

From the Crusty Gazette 11/30/07 (Duh!):
Richard Pastorello said in some ways the large amount of lighting at their home makes up for the rest of Amherst, which tends to have fewer displays than other towns in which he has lived. But they will be paying for it, with the average electric bill rising from about $150 to $900 last December, and likely a bigger jump this year.

Richard Pastorello said the most money ever collected (for charity) was in 2001, when the display brought in $2,500. "Because this is the last time, our goal is to break that record," he said.

Come on folks, let's boycott town center until they come into the real (American) world, patronize Mr. Pastorello and break the record (set just after 9/11) for donations to a good cause.


Last Year's Merry Maple (the Grinch must stolen the colored lights this year) Photo borrowed from Inamherst.com

UPDATE (late Monday afternoon):So I went to the Jones Library in town center to give my daughter something to do and bumped into someone in the know. He said last year Banknorth (also located in town center) donated just over $3,000 for the light display--as apparently they had done for a number of years. This year they gave ZIP. Ouch! Pretty big hit to absorb all at once (the least they could have done was phased out the donation over a couple years). So there's another Grinch.