The Town of Apex likes to put on its holiday best once this festive season arrives. To get things strung, hung, decorated and draped just right, it takes a Christmas village. Here’s a peek behind the scenes at what’s to come in 2021.
We Need a Little Christmas, Right this Very Minute!
The town purchases all publicly displayed decorations and counts on an informal employee committee to make suggestions for replacements when any of the decorations start to look worn. The town’s electric utilities department handles the majority of the responsibilities for hanging the decorations and ensuring that every single light twinkles on cue. Because their experience in the ways of decorating the town runs deep, decorating downtown at Christmas time is a well-oiled machine with very few challenges. There have been no real thematic changes in the decorations over the years. However, the town is now using LED lights exclusively and have expanded the stretch of Salem Street that has pole decorations. Those now extend from the Apex Peakway South to the Apex Peakway North. Downtown decorations go up the week before Thanksgiving and most lights are turned on Thanksgiving night. For those keeping score at home, that’s turkey to Tiny Tim in the time it takes to flick a switch.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!
Holiday events kick off the first weekend in December with town staff playing an active and inspired role in all of the weekend festivities. The familiar Friday evening “Christmas on Salem” event was previously organized by the Apex Downtown Business Association. This year, that group is focusing on other promotional events for downtown, like “Saturdays on Salem” to encourage residents and visitors to “Love Local” and shop and dine downtown all season long. The town will continue the tradition of holding the tree lighting in front of The Depot and will sprinkle in a few surprises that evening but there won’t likely be any horse-drawn carriage rides this year. The town also looks forward to seeing the creative wreaths and trees decorated and donated by local businesses, residents, and other participating groups for the annual auction at the Halle Cultural Arts Center. Proceeds from the auction benefit the Western Wake Crisis Ministry. The Apex Rotary Club’s Christmas Parade sets Salem Street in a yuletide blaze on Saturday night, December 4th.
Polar Express
In 2020, there was a parade of another kind. With virtually all public events suspended due to the pandemic, the town looked to create a festive activity that people could participate in together safely. The “Holiday Tour of Lights” was born. Apex residents and business owners volunteered to decorate their homes and businesses and be featured on the tour. The town created a map to make it easy to find the light display stops. Because the response from the community was so overwhelmingly positive last year, it’s no surprise that the town will repeat the “Holiday Tour of Lights” again this year. It gets rolling the first weekend in December.
Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose?
Not much was rolling on December 23, 1998. Freezing rain started to fall in the late afternoon and continued to fall until Christmas morning. Not only did it cause numerous power outages that had every town electric department employee working through Christmas Eve night to repair the damage, but it also destroyed the town Christmas tree. At that time, it was a tall cedar tree in front of the former town hall, where the police department now stands on Saunders Street. For the next two years, the town Christmas tree was an 8-foot real tree that was placed in front of The Depot. A large artificial tree was then purchased and installed in the current location in front of The Depot. The original artificial tree was 12 feet tall and was increased in height by four feet about five years later. In 2017, new panels for the tree were purchased and ornaments were added for decoration.
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
The decorations are taken down and packed away after New Year’s Day. Decorations are stored in the town’s warehouse in the off season. When the town purchased new decorations last year, they donated the old ones to another town in need—the season of giving, indeed!
