Colourful Year’s End (‘22) Community Celebration in Gregory Town

Gregory Town was again lit up in celebration of the Christmas holidays during the month of December 2022, with its third annual ‘Light Up Gregory Town’ celebration of community on Saturday evening, December 17th.

Scores of families with children came out to enjoy the event, which began with a service of prayer and recognition of the reason for the Christmas celebrations, hosted in the center of town, near the bay, by local government representatives in partnership with ‘Gregory Town Ray of Hope’ group. Father John Johnson of St. Gregory’s Catholic church brought the message during the service, reminding onlookers of the message of Jesus’ birth and His life of sacrifice, allowing people to commune with God, and enjoy the gift of eternal life with Him.

A life-sized Santa’s sleigh, with it’s Bahamian flair of being pulled by a pair of sea horses was again the decorative focal point of the site, where children from the community gathered following the service to receive gifts from the local ‘Santa Claus’, who - to their delight - arrived shortly after the opening service in his palmfringed vehicle.

June Robbins, one of the organizers with the Gregory Town Ray of Hope, shared, “It’s been a little bit easier this year without Covid looming over us. So, we thank God for that. This year we have also built a nativity scene, and along with that we did the spiral tree with dancing lights and the large star - just to round out the nativity.

“The goal is to add to it every year, making it bigger, better and brighter than previous years, and I think we’ve accomplished that goal. It seems that we have a little smaller crowd this year, but the joy is expo- nential. So, it is really good to see children happy and just running around - and getting their gifts.”

The Gregory Town Ray of Hope is a group of foreign ‘expats’ from different countries who have made Gregory Town their home, who partner with other local residents, business leaders and local government officials to make the annual event happen. “There has been months of planning into this,” explained June, “ - certainly, building the nativity scene and