Christmas in March? Your neighbors aren’t confused. This is love in the time of COVID
Update: On Sunday afternoon, McAdenville decided not to light up as many trees as it had earlier announced. “A decision was made several minutes ago,” Steve Rankin of the Christmas Town committee told CharlotteFive. “It was a hard decision, but hoping to keep everyone safe.” This story has been updated to reflect the change.
During uncertainty and social distancing in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, seeking comfort and joy is done in the most creative of ways. The little town of McAdenville in Gaston County, is doing its part by lighting two trees for the “Christmas in March” initiative.
This idea originated on Twitter several days ago, encouraging folks around the country to participate with holiday lights to boost spirits amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Twitter accounts were calling for people to put up Christmas lights, calling it the #coronaviruschallenge, Fox8 of Greensboro reported last week.
”What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity,” Milwaukee resident Lane Grindle tweeted on March 15.
”Let’s face it, it sucks out there. Why not have something wonderful to look at while driving around?” Dan Garcia of Pittsburgh posted on March 17.
North Carolina has officially cosigned, with “Christmas Town USA” joining the party — but in a really small way, to not promote large gatherings of crowds. McAdenville, known for its spectacular light displays, will turn on lights on two trees from 7:30-11 p.m. nightly.
The trees lit will be one at the Pharr office near the lake and a tree across the street from the Pharr Family YMCA, Steve Rankin of the Christmas Town committee told CharlotteFive. Homeowners had not turned on any lights, he said. “We ask all who visit to please drive through only. Do not get out of your cars and cause large gatherings on our sidewalks. If this happens, it may cause the end to what we are hoping to ‘lift spirits.’”
The Hallmark Channel is also in the holiday spirit, adding programming of Christmas movies to help you through your quarantine. The marathon, happening now, ends Sunday at 6 p.m. and includes 27 holiday movies to help combat the self-isolation blues.
If you’re not feeling the holiday spirit, check out the resurgence of drive-in movies in Kings Mountain. Charlotte Ledger reported that about 500 vehicles were at Hound’s Drive-in on Saturday night for a double feature of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Forrest Gump.”
Have you seen any holiday lights in and around Charlotte in the past few days? Email us a picture and tell us where you saw them and we may add your photos to this story: charlottefive@charlottefive.com.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 12:19 PM.
