North Arlington volunteers ushered in the holiday season by decorating a community Christmas tree for Bergen County’s annual Winter Wonderland celebration at Van Saun Park, Paramus.
The festive tradition features a “Municipal Tree Decoration Contest,” in which every Bergen County municipality is invited to design and decorate its own tree as part of the county’s month-long holiday showcase.
This year’s project was led for the first time by Councilwoman Amanda DeCicco, who said she was grateful for the opportunity to work side by side with North Arlington residents, public servants and local business owners.
“This process was a wonderful reaffirmation of why I chose to run for borough council,” DeCicco said. “The North Arlington community is truly like no other and leading our tree decoration efforts gave me the opportunity to grow closer with some of our exceptional residents. The holidays are all about community, and our volunteers brought that spirit forward in every detail.”
DeCicco thanked Councilwoman Allison Sheedy, who led the borough’s volunteer efforts in previous years.
In addition to DeCicco, five volunteers participated in planning and decorating the tree: Charles La Corte, George McDermott, Maria Schurter, Angela Soto and Isabel Comp.
Volunteers embraced the theme “Big Hearts, Small Town,” creating clear ornaments filled with faux snow, each labeled with the name of a North Arlington street, council member, school, church, police officer or firefighter.
“Councilwoman DeCicco and our committed volunteers did an excellent job planning and executing North Arlington’s contribution to the county’s tree decorating contest,” Mayor Daniel H. Pronti said. “These events are not mandatory. We do them because we enjoy representing our community. It is a wonderful dedication to the people and traditions that make our borough special.”
The decorated tree now sits in Van Saun Park. It will return to North Arlington for all to see in time for the holidays and will be displayed along River Road.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.