Tree Lighting drew good crowd on a bad night

Spirits not dampened as raindrops kept falling on their heads;

Santa and the petting zoo were the big draw

By Mark E. Vogler

Some town officials overseeing the preparations for last Friday night’s annual Tree Lighting and Festivities worried that the rainy weather might keep many Saugus residents at home.

But Jen Erikson disagreed any suggestion that the rainy weather spoiled the night for Saugus residents who converged on Saugus Center. “I think the rain added something to it,” said Erikson, who waited in the rain outside the entrance to the Saugus Public Library as her eight-year-old daughter spent some time with Santa Claus.

“There’s a lot of people here. This is a good crowd. The weather doesn’t matter,” she said.

That was clear from the large number of parents pushing baby carriages covered with plastic to keep their tots dry.

Crystal Surette, a 2003 Saugus High School graduate, said the weather wasn’t bad enough to keep her one-year-old daughter Madeline away from seeing Santa. “This is her second time and she’s happy to be here,” Surette said.

“She came as an infant last year. And this has been a family tradition for 10 years now,” she said.

The weather didn’t keep Joe Vecchione from enjoying the night with his three-year-old daughter Amelia. “I did it as a kid for many years; now I’m doing it as a dad,” Vecchione said as he held his daughter as she admired the giant inflatable snowman.

“I love seeing her face. She looks forward to seeing all of these lights. It’s a kickoff to Christmas. And like most kids, she’s obsessed with Christmas,” he said.

Underneath a tarp that covered the petting zoo, four-year-old Braydon Berdy-Baker was preoccupied with Harley – the one-year-old girl rabbit – one of 17 animals that Animal Craze of Winchendon, Mass., brought to Saugus.

The boy’s grandmother, Alice Berdy, said the weather was much better last year. But the rain didn’t matter to Braydon or his family. “We know the petting zoo is his favorite,” said Berdy, a Saugus resident who moved here four years ago from New Jersey.

The weather did present a special challenge to Brian Cross, the DJ for the event. He had to leave some of his audio equipment at home so it wouldn’t get damaged by the rain. He loaded about 100 Christmas and holiday songs into his cell phone and had it hooked up to the speakers set up at the top of the Town Hall steps. “The favorite song is probably ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town,’” said Cross, a 2013 Saugus High graduate.

But last night was just a warmup for Cross, who is looking forward to working as DJ for the town’s Christmas Eve parade, something he’s been doing since 2014.