Holiday Trolley comes to town Dec. 8
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Northborough - The third annual Holiday Trolley will be chugging its way through town spreading seasonal joy and local shoppers from noon to 5:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 8.

The trolley, once again sponsored by the Community Affairs Committee, will make a continuous loop, beginning and ending in the center of town.

Participating merchants in the center of town are Tom's Gourmet Marketplace, the Northborough House of Pizza and Craftworks.

From the center of town the trolley will travel west down Main Street to its next stop, The Emporium. From there the trolley will head to Strut, 276 West Main St., the place for fun footwear and wonderful wearables. Memories Gifts in the Plaza at 290 West Main St. will be the third stop.

Stop No. 4 will be the Northborough Shopping Plaza. Folks wanting to visit O'Brien's Five and Ten, 245 West Main St.; Trombetta's Flower Shop, 73 Pleasant St.; and the Edward James Stores, 247 West Main St., will depart the trolley there as well.

Mayo's Pets & More, 175 West Main St., is the next stop and will be followed by the final stop of the trolley, The Purple Rose, 140 Main St.

The festivities will conclude in the center of town at 5:30 p.m., where they will be capped by caroling and the annual lighting of the town's Christmas tree.

The loop of the merchants participating takes about 20 minutes to complete and there will be a guitarist playing on the trolley throughout the afternoon.

Two area businesses that are not stops on the trolley's route - Dawn's School of Dance, 369 West Main St., and Central One Credit Union, 148 Main St., - have made contributions to the event.

"We feel the Holiday Trolley is a way to urge residents to shop in town and support the local merchants in what is a very challenging economy," said Patty Murphy, owner of Strut and a coordinator of the event. "We realize as a business community that we're spread out. We thought the trolley was a workable solution for residents so they could shop in town and support their local business and neighbors but not have all that starting and stopping, all that getting in and out of cars, all that looking for parking spaces."

Murphy said turnout for the trolley has been good, and increased last year over the first year.

"A much better turnout than the caroling, because each time it's been time for the caroling it's been freezing, freezing, freezing," Murphy said.

When they board, trolley riders will be given a brochure, which will highlight special sales participating merchants have for trolley riders, as well as where and what kind of refreshments will be available at different stops along the route.

The highlight for children and adults alike may be the visit to The Purple Rose, which will have hot chocolate for kids and chocolate martini samples for adults.