Luminaria Night in Trinity Park and across Durham will be December 14. This event provides the opportunity to connect with our neighbors over hot chocolate and Monuts and raise money for a worthy charity. This year we will be pushing hard to light EVERY BLOCK in our 1,400 home neighborhood.
Festivities will take place at the Trinity Park from 4 – 6pm. Refreshments will be provided for purchase by the TPNA, and several food trucks have been invited to participate in the event. It has been rumored that Santa will make an appearance, riding on his second-favorite vehicle, a Durham Fire Department fire truck at 4:45pm.
Supplies for Luminaria in Trinity Park will be available starting on December 6 at 302 Watts Street. Supplies will also be available at the Park starting at 4 pm on Sunday, December 14.
Each candle/bag/sand combination will be 50 cents. Proceeds raised from Luminaria Night will be used to support local charities and non-profits working in the urban core.
Luminaria supplies can be purchased at the park during the celebration, and other Trinity Park souvenier items will also be available. There are limited numbers of Home Tour 2014 T-shirts ($10), Home Tour 2014 posters ($5), Trinity Park Coloring Books ($1), and even a few Trinity Park cookbooks ($5). All of these items can also be purchased before or after Luminaria Night from Linda Wilson, lindabwilson@nc.rr.com, 919-264-7395.
“Luminaria Service” will be available again this year, for $1.50 per candle/bag/sand setup. For those who choose this service, volunteers will assemble the setups, deliver them to your home, and light the candles at dusk. Arrangements for the Luminaria Service can be made through Linda Wilson, contact information above.
Organizer Annie Ambrose asks that anyone interested in helping with Luminaria Night get in touch with her at 919-824-4965, ascorza@nc.rr.com. She reports that any and all volunteers will be welcome! She will need help setting up, transporting Luminaria materials to the Park, selling Luminaria supplies, selling refreshments, cleaning up, and lighting the gazebo.
How to Construct Luminaria
1. Prepare one candle/bag/sand setup for every 6 feet of sidewalk. ( A typical 50-foot lot would require 8 – 10 setups.)
2. If desired, turn a 1 -2” collar on the top of the bag.
3. Place 1 – 2 cups of sand in the bottom of each bag. If more stability is needed, add more sand. Pea gravel or potting soil can be substituted for sand.
4. Place one candle in each bag.
5. Place the bags along the outer edge of the sidewalk at 6 – 7’ intervals.
6. Light the candles at dusk. The tea candles used in Trinity Park are rated for 4 hours, but some last as much as 6 hours, depending upon weather conditions.
7. Be sure that all candles are extinguished by the end of the evening.
8. HAVE FUN!! MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS!! ENJOY!!
If You Want To Light Your Entire Block
1. Compose a note or email to your neighbors indicating that you will do the entire block, or the entire side of the street.
2. Ask each one to contribute 50 cents for each candle placed in front of their home.
3. Proceed with the instructions above.
4. Payment from your neighbors can be collected prior to the event, or as you set out the bags. In the distant past, I have even waited to collect from my neighbors until the day after the event. (By now, though, our block is a well-oiled machine. I put out the candles on my side of the street, a neighbor does the other side, and everyone gives me money. I love it!)
5. Please collect your bags, sand, and burned-out candles as quickly as possible on the morning of December 15, so that we can keep our neighborhood clean and beautiful!
