Chamber of Commerce Shows Holiday Spirit

The Douglaston Village Chamber of Commerce added another celebration to its list last weekend with an inaugural tree lighting and caroling celebration.

An estimated 30 children of all ages gathered at the Douglaston Market on Saturday to decorate Christmas crafts and tasty gingerbread cookies as they awaited dusk. As the evening chill settled outside, the little ones shared and compared their art.

The chamber lit up a dozen potted fir saplings during the event, rather one large tree.

"We didn't realize that you needed a permit to light up a city tree until it was too late," said Diego von Schmeling, the chamber's vice president. "It takes 90 days. Wait 'til next year."

Prior to singing holiday songs, President Dorothy Matinale announced that the recent Dick Lynch Memorial Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot raised more than $2,700 for the chamber.

She proceeded to lead the group in singing carols and was accompanied by keyboardist George Schmidt. The crowd then headed outdoors to light the small trees.

Afterwards, the heartiest of the group paid caroling calls at Il Toscano Ristorante and several other open shops in the plaza. They ended their trek with a serenade at Strawberry's Sports Bar, where they were treated to warm apple cider and hot chili.

Von Schmeling said an evergreen growing in the center of the traffic plaza south of the Douglaston Long Island Rail Road station is a more traditional tree-lighting candidate. But he said there has also been some sentiment to illuminate the historic Weeping Beech tree that shades the Douglaston World War I monument to the north.

"That is a second growth from the first Weeping Beech brought to America from England," von Schmeling said.

He also revealed that there is another offspring of the original tree in Ohio and that a third-generation tree is also available.

One of the goals of the chamber is to eventually buy the descendent and have it shipped to Douglaston. But the project would cost an estimated $30,000.

"We're doing what we can," von Schmeling said.