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Cherub of tradition brightens holidays
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Patty LaRocca and her daughter Leah, 11, both of Sharon got a close-up view of the christmas lights on West State Street.
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Clockwise from left, Sharonites Alex Cicone, 12, Niyahsa Justice, 12, Laquanda Teague, 13 and Tristen Delgross, 9, turn from the fireworks just long enough to pose for a picture. Light-up Sharon, West State Street downtown.
The cherub has helped Sharon celebrate the holidays since 1996.
SHARON, Pa. — He, uh, she — it stands there all spring, summer and into fall without much of a role to play in what goes on downtown.
People who don’t know its story might wonder why it’s there: the larger-than-life, bronze cherub statue up on that pedestal, holding its torch high.
“It’s the Christmas torch,” said Tom Sanford, who cheated and peeked at the plaque on the base of the pedestal as he was walking past on West State Street one day last week.
Sanford admitted though, that before he read the plaque, he was left guessing.
“I know it has something to do with unity,” he said, remembering that his grandfather told him that when he was a child.
On reinspecting the plaque, he was surprised to learn that the statue has been around only since 1996, when it was dedicated at the city’s first Light Up Night to kick off the holiday season. He hadn’t learned about the statue’s significance in his childhood after all, but however he happened to know it, he was right.
The statue is a symbol of peace for all people, and though it might inspire thoughts of the Olympics, it has nothing to do with them.
“I thought it might have something to do with the Olympics at first,” Sanford said.
“It looks like it has an Olympic torch,” concurred Andrew Smith, who was in town from Chicago visiting friends and said he’s never seen anything like the statue in the Windy City.
Why a big, bronze cherub carrying a torch to symbolize holiday good will?
“It’s not a mystery,” said well-known Sharon businessman Jim Winner, who donated the statue to the city.
The statue came from a foundry in Asia. The cherub, he said, is neutral enough so that it can represent everyone during the holidays.
The torch was actually added later, Winner said, so the city could honor people who work behind the scenes for the good of the community. Every year, someone is chosen to light the torch at the Greater Sharon Associates’ Light Up Night, which ushers in the holiday season for the downtown.
The group of volunteers from area businesses, which also sponsors the summer’s Car Cruise, chose Pam Dorfi for the honor this year.
Dorfi was instrumental in arranging the city’s first Soap Box Derby for children with disabilities this summer, said Angela Palumbo, president of the group. Dorfi lit the torch Thursday evening with the help of Mayor Bob Lucas.
Lucas, who was at the base of the statue Wednesday with a tape measure, figured they would use a pike pole, a firefighting tool for pulling down ceilings, to do the lighting this year. The gas-fed flame will burn day and night through mid-January, catching Orthodox Christmas in the spirit, too.
Lucas said he likes the torch as a tradition: “You gotta hold onto some traditions.”
Light Up Night, which also featured the lighting of the town Christmas tree next to the torch, is all about bringing people to the downtown, but it’s also about giving children that very sense of tradition, said Palumbo, who grew up in Hermitage and has her own memories of the holidays in Sharon.
“I remember when I was a little girl, coming into downtown and going into what was then the Sharon Store,” she said. That store is now the Winner department store, which is across the street from the torch and tree.
“My greatest excitement was to ride up in the elevator, which had an attendant,” she said. “Now I want this to be a memory for the children today.”
Beth Pernesky, who lives in Sharpsville but works at the Community Foundation on Chestnut Street in Sharon, knew some of the story behind the torch and said she was looking forward to the holidays. “I personally enjoy family-centric values at Christmas,” said Pernesky, who has a 20-month-old son.
Betty Jo Patterson, who has worked at the Winner for 14 years and says she feels as much a part of the downtown as the statue, was planning to bring her grandchildren to Light Up Night.
Light Up Nights are meant to boost holiday shopping, but Winner said he fears it will be a lean season for Sharon retailers this year — much like in other communities as the economic crisis takes its toll.
Lucas and Patterson will do what they can to help. The mayor said he’ll be buying gift certificates to downtown eateries.
As for Patterson, well, of course: “I always shop downtown.”