Holiday 2020

LET THE MAGIC SHINE THROUGH!

Thanks to the traditions of Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth, now in its 16th year, Portsmouth is known as the "Christmas Capital of North America" (according to Travel + Leisure magazine) and as one of New England's "Best Holiday Towns" (according to Yankee Magazine). 

Though the 2020 Holiday Season has brought many challenges -- and many creative ways to celebrate!

SECRET #1 – Did you know, there are 152 holiday wreaths on City lamp posts, including a new batch in the West End? It takes three DPW crews of 2 people each, a full 8-hour shift to place them all.

SECRET #2 -- Did you know there are 16 strings of lights (560 feet!) and  approximately 150 ornaments on the Holiday Tree in Market Square? It took a DPW crew of three people and a flatbed truck from National Wreckers to retrieve this year's tree from the Pound Family in Tucker Cove. 

SECRET #3 – Did you know, there are 20 gingerbread houses, lovingly made by local residents, in store windows downtown? Download the Gingerbread Hunt list here. Also visit the Gingerbread Contest Exhibition in the Portsmouth Historical Society’s Discover Portsmouth Welcome Center.

SECRET #4 -- Did you know, Portsmouth Webcam's 'cam-master' Michael McCormack added a new webcam to the Portsmouth lineup, dubbed the Tree Cam. It's live streaming right now from a great vantage point!

SECRET #5 – Did you know, Portsmouth Rotary has offered gold-plated ornaments depicting key landmarks in Portsmouth since at least 1984? This year’s ornament not only showcases an “institution,” it is a means to achieve a great cause: $10,000 in local restaurant gift cards distributed to local restaurant waitstaff. Buy this year’s collectible brass ornament of the iconic Gilley’s Diner and Portsmouth Rotary will use 100% of the profits to buy restaurant gift certificates waitstaff. The ornaments are $20 when purchased at the restaurants or $22 if purchased online.

SECRET #7 – Did you know there are 76 participants in the Holiday Lights Contest – and more bringing light and cheer to the December darkness? The map showing all the neighborhoods filled with Holiday Lights Contest entries is now available! Click here.

SECRET #7B – Fire Chief Todd Germain has convinced Santa to share the map of the route he’ll take to check out all the holiday decorations on Saturday, December 19. (Chief had to promise to let Santa ride on the back of a ladder truck, in exchange. Santa Claus does like those shiny bright red “sleighs”! For the route and the estimated times he’ll be passing through, so children can wave from their front porches or lawns, click here.

SECRET #8 -- Joining the holiday lights all over the city, there are new (year-round) lights on the trees along Vaughan Mall. Thanks to a generous benefactor, the trees on the pedestrian way between Congress and Hanover Street are completely wrapped with strings of lights.

SECRET #9 -- The Chamber Collaborative's "Hope for the Holidays" gives you 108 different opportunities to help local nonprofits -- and the people they serve -- this holiday season. Definitely a choice and price range that could cover everyone on your list. Click here for the details. 

SECRET #10 -- During the pandemic GATHER has had to double its monthly food distribution to 200,000 pounds to serve its 6,500-7,000 recipients on the Seacoast. Gather and other food banks are in urgent need of donations – like the nonperishable items donated by City employees (pictured above in the HR Department office). To learn how to donate food, click here.  

SECRET #11 -- The Neighborhood Holiday Lights Contest was judged by ten Portsmouth children, aged 21 months to 18. Best holiday wishes go to Geno Vinciguerra (15), Ginger Vinciguerra (13), James Margeson (14), Sophie Cosgrove (13), Lilli Cosgrove (9), Matthew Syracusa (18), Owen Kohler, (12), Theo Kohler (7), Gunnar Grace (4) and Hendrix Grace (21 months) – and their parents—for touring their assigned neighborhoods (not their own) and carefully evaluating each entry. In just two weekends they covered all 76 entries and selected three winners of the $500 gift cards donated by Ricci Lumber, Lowe’s and Home Depot:  Al Bailey, Jane Sprague and Nicole Beyer and 25 honorable mention gift certificates donated by Market Basket, Pic’n Pay/Hannaford, Irving Oil and Walgreens to Polly Dale, Kevin Drohan, Heather Pettis, Tim MacCannell, Joshua Cyr, the Vieira Family, Rachel Bratter-Rioux, Elizabeth Moreau, Kris Kraft, John Stiker, Wayne Bowlen, Dawn Sirois, Kim Scott, Tish Campbell, Carolyn Sanford, Christina Scardina, Alexis Katz, Beth and Jeff Stacy, Maria Elliott, Vicki Decker, Lisa Rapaport, Kimberly Lorencic, Liz Wentworth, Jim Cundy and John Tilton-Zakharov. In addition, to the prize donors, Seacoast Media Group was an in-kind sponsor, providing publicity and advertising space for the contest. A new Holiday Lights map pinpointing the winners is now posted on the City website:

• Overall map in PDF form, click here,
• Map in four sections that can each be printed on an 8.5x11” sheet for easier reading, click here.

SECRET #12  For a PDF of the  poster showing all the winners of the Holiday Lights Contest, click here. And for a short video of them, click here.

PLEASE ENJOY THE HOLIDAY SAFELY SO 2021 CAN SHINE BRIGHTLY!