When residents and friends gather at Ram Pasture tonight, it will mark the 40th anniversary of consecutive tree lighting events at that location. For four decades, a tree (or two) near the southwest corner of the historic property has been lit to celebrate the season through clear nights as well as rain, snow, and even the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 1985, Diana Johnson spoke about the event a few weeks ahead of its first presentation, which was also on a Friday the 13th.

“It will be majestic if we pull it off,” she told The Newtown Bee.

As the late Curtiss Clark wrote in a November 2007 editorial, “Only good things come of something that starts with a thousand people singing in candlelight around a spruce tree. At least that’s the rule in Newtown, which annually launches the Christmas holiday season with festivities in the Ram Pasture that seem a little bit pagan, a little bit religious, but mostly community-spirited. In the gathering darkness of these final weeks before the winter solstice, the town tree-lighting is truly an illumination of why most people who have lived here, either whether they are natives or not, come to think of Newtown as their hometown for the rest of their lives: There is a sense in this community that we are better together than we ever could be individually.”

The Ram Pasture Tree Lighting was more than one person right from the start. It was launched by Diana Johnson and Janet Woycik, who reportedly picked up a suggestion from Johnson’s husband Wayland and ran with it. With encouragement from then-Chamber of Commerce President Sam Eisenbach, who was “eager to try” resurrecting a tree lighting in town, according to a November 2001 Newtown Bee feature, a Tree Lighting Committee was formed.

And among its early members was Joy Kopesky, who recalled the idea from the mid-1980s that has continued into the 21st Century.

“Wayland Johnson, then a pilot for TWA, was in Mainz, Germany, one holiday season,” Kopesky shared. “He told his wife he had seen a lovely Christmas tree in the town center that brought a very festive air to the entire community.

“Diana decided to make that happen in Newtown. She approached the Chamber of Commerce for funding and support,” Kopesky said. Johnson was the Chamber’s administrative assistant and Woycik was a fellow member and director of C.H. Booth Library.

“The two women collaborated, bringing the plan to reality in December 1985,” Kopesky said.

The Chamber did not want the event to be commercial, Johnson told The Newtown Bee in 2001, “so choosing the right site was important,” she said. “A perfect tree was located in The Ram Pasture, and Newtown Cemetery Association granted permission for its use.”

The cemetery association owns and maintains the historic cemetery and Ram Pasture.

The original Christmas Tree Committee also included electrician Stan Perrone; arborist Dan Dalton; Barbara Kasbarian of Newtown Parks and Recreation; and Mary Jane and Brian Healey.

Both co-founders remained involved with the tree lighting for the rest of their respective lives. Johnson was still fully involved until her death in August 2022. Similarly, Woycik remained on the committee until her death in October of the same year.

As her family noted in Woycik’s obituary, “Janet was most proud of this community tradition and the lights of the tree can be seen from her final resting place” in Newtown Village Cemetery, to the immediate west of Ram Pasture.

Johnson’s obituary also noted her lead role in the holiday tradition, noting she and her husband “conceived the idea of a Christmas tree lighting and luminaria display at Ram Pasture” and, working with Woycik, “established the tradition that has brought (and still brings) the town together every December for performances, food, drink, and the lighting of the tree to kick off the holiday season.”

Bulbs, Luminaria & Donations

For years, members of The Christmas Tree & Luminaria Committee would gather weeks before the tree lighting for “bulb parties,” checking to make sure every light on the strands heading to Ram Pasture were working.

More than 3,000 bulbs cover the tree. Once the switch is thrown, the tree remains lit until early January.

An equal number of luminaria are set out along Main Street, Sugar Street, Main Street South and Glover Avenue on the night of the tree lighting, giving the center of Newtown a look that is right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Local electricians and tree experts have provided the expertise to make sure the lights go on and the trees remain healthy. Newtown Parks & Recreation employees have often assisted with the placement and cleanup of the luminaria that surrounds Ram Pasture, as have Scouts in past years. Homeowners along the luminaria route often take care of picking up a supply of bags or boxes and candles for the luminaria.

The cost of the tree lighting, upkeep and maintenance is covered through sponsorships and donations. Until its dissolution a few years ago, the local Chamber of Commerce remained a lead organizer and sponsor. The Borough of Newtown has stepped up in recent years to be an event sponsor.

Commercial bulbs are not inexpensive.

In order to offset the cost, in 1999 the committee began offering memorial bulbs and luminaria to the public in return for donations. Each bulb costs $10, and the list of donors is published each year in The Bee.

There are touching stories that accompany the purchase of the bulbs many times, Johnson told the newspaper in 2008.

“Sometimes there are tender notes attached on the purchase coupons. Lots of the bulbs [in recent years have been] dedicated to those in the military,” she said.

Bulbs and luminaria are often “purchased” to honor relatives and friends who have passed away, to share a message with someone special, or even to honor the community at large. Children’s groups, families, and other collective efforts have made donations to cover the cost of the event.

Batteries & Glow Sticks

Candles have long been the traditional light source for luminaria. At the request of local fire marshals, however, the Christmas Tree & Luminaria Committee has tried at least two alternatives over the years.

In 2010, the committee tried battery operated candles, but they cast only a wan light.

Two years later, the committee tried again, this time using glow sticks. After disappointment with the light emitted from a single glow stick during trial runs, the decision was made to put two sticks into each bag.

It did not work. Within days of the 2014 Tree Lighting, Johnson issued “sincere apologies to the whole town,” she said, “for the abject failure of a new lighting option in the luminarias.”

Not only did the glow sticks fail to light the holiday spirit, but it was an expensive experiment, said Johnson. The cost of the glow sticks exceeded estimates, costing the Chamber nearly twice as much as is normally allotted for candles.

Until modern technology comes up with a more affordable and equivalent replacement for plumber’s candles, residents will continue to see Newtown luminaria powered by candlelight.

Newtown Hardware was the original donor of white paper bags that held the luminaria. Curtis Packaging has been donating white cardboard boxes since 2003.

Newtown Hardware continued to support the tree lighting, however, with the donation of plumber’s candles for the luminaria for another four years. The Christmas Tree Committee switched to LED lights within the luminaria bags in 2019.

Tree Down

In March 2008 a combination of high winds and lowly rot felled the 90-plus foot-tall spruce. It fell during an overnight, and was discovered by members of Newtown Hook & Ladder as they were responding to a call on nearby Brushy Hill Road the morning of Sunday, March 9.

Woycik estimated the tree to be approximately 75 years old at that time. A smaller tree had been planted a few years earlier, she told The Bee that month, “for just this reason.”

Two months later another young tree was located to supplement the property. A white spruce was donated by longtime Newtown resident Wayne Addessi, who arranged to have the tree moved from his property to Ram Pasture.

Several residents offered trees, Woycik said, and the Christmas Tree Committee spent a day traveling around town looking at their options before selecting the tree from the north-central Newtown location. The Addessi tree was transplanted in September 2008.

Live Entertainment

The tree lighting event begins each year with the placement of luminaria that leads attendees to the southwest corner of Ram Pasture. Elm Drive is closed to vehicular traffic between its intersections with Sugar Street and Brushy Hill Road, providing plenty of room for attendees to walk from nearby Dickinson Park and other locations, which further sets the scene.

Local musicians, often from Newtown High School and nearby dance studios, have provided entertainment while crowds assemble ahead of the first lighting of the tree each year. Santa and Mrs Claus also play an important part of the evening event.

The late Earl Smith filled the role of Santa for early tree lighting events. Tree Lighting Committee member Joy Kopesky, Marie Walker and Marie Sturdevant have each played Mrs Claus.

In recent years it has been Sandy Hook residents Josie and Bob Schmidt who have portrayed the celebrity couple.

Bob Schmidt was enlisted by Diana Johnson in 2010, he recently told Joy Kopesky. George Ferris stepped in as Santa one year, when Bob needed to be out of town. There was no public event in 2020 during the first Christmas of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parks & Rec modified the event, however, encouraging residents to take a stroll along Elm Drive once the tree would be lit for the first time that December. Bob then worked solo for the next two years.

“I spoke to the crowd using a microphone and led the singing while playing my guitar,” he said of the return to the tree lightings, with spacing precautions still in place. The Schmidts returned to Santa’s sleigh in 2023.

Bob and Josie believe traditions “are very important in giving a town a feeling of unity,” he said last month. “Families plan their early holiday season around the annual tree lighting and gather with their neighbors to share the experience and the joy.”

A parent and counselor, Bob has been known to work some professional advice into his appearances at Ram Pasture.

“I remind children to obey their parents and be kind,” he said. The best part of playing the Clauses, however, is what they and all other volunteers receive in return, Bob added.

“The expressions on the children’s faces, the ability to help some children overcome their fear, hugs, meeting older children with disabilities, cute and sometimes very sweet notes to Santa, and photo ops” all make months of planning for the very special tradition worth every ounce of energy that goes into it.

The 40th Annual Ram Pasture Tree Lighting is scheduled for Friday, December 13. Luminaria leading to Ram Pasture will be placed mid-afternoon, and entertainment will begin at 6:30. Borough Warden Jay Maher has been tapped to flip the switch at 7 pm.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.