On Tuesday Dec. 16, Main Street Highland Park (MSHP) will be hosting a double feature party – the organization’s annual December volunteer appreciation bash, in combination with its third annual downtown menorah lighting.
“Main Street Highland Park always throws a winter volunteer appreciation party every year in the middle of December,” said Rebecca Hersh, Executive Director of Main Street Highland Park. “And for the past two years we have also hosted a downtown menorah lighting event. This year, because the first night of Hanukkah falls in the same week that we were planning on doing our winter party, we figured, why not combine the two and make it double the fun?”
The event, which will be held rain or shine next to the Main Street offices at 212 Raritan Avenue, will feature: live music from local bands the Avi Maza Orchestra and Too Many Daves; free food and drinks; Hanukkah gelt and dreidels for the kids; and the lighting of the menorah.
“We are such a small organization, there is no way we could do the work we do without the hard work of our dedicated volunteers,” said Ms. Hersh. “From our volunteer board of directors, to the high school kids who help direct traffic during Arts in the Park, to our 5k race planning committee, to our talented designers and planners who work tirelessly on our design committee, we have so many people to thank every year. This party is our small way of saying thanks to them, as well as everyone else in town, including the shoppers and festival-goers, for being dedicated advocates for our downtown.”
Main Street Highland Park board member Mike Beberman, owner of Cyber Knight Computers, has been in charge of the menorah lighting for the past two years. Last year, he organized the group of volunteers to build the home-made giant electric menorah that will be lit on Tuesday night. “As a Main Street board member, I love helping out with this event,” said Mr. Beberman. “It is a great way to bring so many different parts of our community downtown to celebrate together.”
“All of our events are designed to get ‘feet on the street’ downtown, and this event is no different,” added Ms. Hersh. “A motivating factor behind all of our events is to get people to our downtown, walking around, patronizing local businesses, and seeing everything that downtown Highland Park has to offer. We encourage people to support our downtown economy and our local businesses when they’re doing their holiday shopping this year. December 16 is a perfect night to get in some last-minute holiday gift shopping!”
The event will be from 6pm to 8pm on Tuesday, Dec. 16, and event sponsors include Cyber Knight Computers, Mordy’s Bakery, Sushiana, Minuteman Press of Highland Park, Judaica Gallery, Park Place, Jerusalem Pizza, and Mekor-Chaim Steinsaltz Ambassadors.
For more information on this event and more, visit www.mainstreethp.org or www.facebook.com/MainStreetHP.