Dean Shalhoup

Longtime reporter, columnist and photographer, is back doing what he does best ñ chronicling the people and history of Nashua. Reaching 40 years with The Telegraph in September, Deanís insights have a large, appreciative following.

OK, that’s arguable, I’ll admit. Indeed, having seen at most a dozen or so Christmas displays in other communities over the years certainly doesn’t make me a qualified judge of such things.

But as a former kid who, as a youngster around pre-school age was told one day during holiday season to dress in my Sunday best and shine my shoes for a “special trip” that had something to do with big stores and lots and lots of Christmas lights, I’ll forever hold a special fondness for those long strings of bright lights that were strung in scallop fashion across Main Street and a few side streets during my youth.

I can’t say precisely what the attraction was, but any time I come across a photo of those multi-colored lights, their brilliance enhanced by thousands of leaves of reflective foil, each with a large, illuminated bell at its midway point, I can’t help but wax nostalgic.

Even black-and-white photos – which is like trying to capture foliage season before the advent of color film – trigger those waves of nostalga. My eyes saw color.

Exactly when my beloved “scalloped strings” of yuletide lumination met their demise I don’t know, but it had to be sometime in the late 1970s or 80s. By the early 90s, if I recall correctly, strings of smaller, white lights began adorning the trees lining Main Street, and individual stores and other businesses were encouraged to dress up their facades and front windows as they desired.

But back when my favorite lights spanned Main Street, the big treat was getting to see the strings at Main and Hollis streets interact with the famous “Cott to be Good” sign that was affixed to the north side of the Spalding Building – the one at Main and West Hollis, where 7-Star Pizza is now, not to be confused with the “other” Spalding building, built by Isaac Spalding at 168 Main St.

The “Cott” sign was awesome enough by itself – remember how it “wrote” “Cott,” then flashed “To Be Good” a few times, then erased itself, only to start over again? – but frame it with a couple strings of festive holiday lights and it didn’t matter if the traffic light never turned green.

As a sort of bonus, two longer strings of lights formed an “X” at Main and Hollis and Main and Pearl streets, with an extra large illuminated bell at center. There may have also been an “X” at Main, Temple and Factory streets but I can’t recall.

Now, given the popularity and nearly universal appreciation (yes, I’m editorializing) of our downtown Christmas lights, it’s not a surprise that some other communities were a little envious when comparing their displays with ours.

I bet one of them was Manchester, which has historically envied Nashua for all kinds of things, ranging from high school athletics to traffic issues to crime rates, but alas I have no proof.

I do however have proof that at least one city envied Nashua to the point it engaged in a little trash talking.

That would be Lowell, Massachusetts, where its hometown newspaper, presumably The Sun although it doesn’t specify, took an editorial shot at us a few days before Christmas 1953. I’m able to share Lowell’s tale of woe thanks to venerable Telegraph editor Fred Dobens, who felt it worthy of inclusion in his column.

“Our downtown Christmas lighting display is much better than that in Nashua … (where) the strands of lights were drawn tightly across Main Street with a tiny white star in the center, and bulbs much smaller than are used here,” the obviously envious writer whined.

Said writer did however admit that “only at its City Hall is Nashua’s display any better than Lowell’s,” but he chalked it up to the fact that our City Hall, having been built just 15 years earlier, “lends itself more readily to decoration than does our own, much older building.”

Well, wah, wah, wah, Lowell.

I wonder if Lowell’s allegedly superior Christmas display could have withstood, then bounced right back from, the back-to-back hits Nashua’s display suffered soon after it was installed in late November 1950.

First, the too-tall cargo on a wayward lumber delivery truck, operated by an evidently unprepared driver from Manchester, snagged and took down several strings that just two days earlier had been hung with care across the Main Street Bridge.

The strings were promptly restored, and all was well – until the very next day.

It seems a nor’easter, boasting winds upwards of 40-50 mph, swept into New England, raising the usual havoc around town and, the Telegraph reported, “blowing down rows of Christmas lights strung across Main Street.

“The lights had just yesterday been turned on for the first time,” the paper reported.

Now, as I wish everyone Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a Happy New Year, I’m ready to start dreaming of a COVID-free Christmas 2021.

Perhaps we could celebrate by stringing bright, colorful lights across Main and other downtown streets.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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