High-Energy Hanukkah Arrives on Franklin Common

Above, Franklin Police Patrolman Parker Luther brings the first flame to the holiday menorah on Franklin Common Sunday evening.

Shortly after 4 pm, in a blizzard of light and sound, Hanukkah arrived at the snow-covered Franklin Town Common in the form of the festive, Menorah Car Parade that began in Milford and had stopped earlier at Choate Park in Medway. Blaring music associated with the celebration of Hanukkah came, too, with many vehicles bearing their own brightly lit menorahs. A dozen or two cars began disgorging families and any number of smiling people bearing trays of latkes and jelly doughnuts for the crowd, both aspects to the holiday tradition accreted in Europe and America. Soon a corner of the Common was all but filled with smiling people.

The more formal parts of the event included words of remembrance and prayer for the victims of the Hanukkah attack in Sydney, Australia as well as remarks of welcome from Franklin Town Councilors Max Morongiello and Steve Malloy.

The lighting of the flame by Patrolman Parker was followed by the electrical illumination of the rest of the menorah structure, with additional lights to be added during the remaining days of Hanukkah.

The parade then headed to Bellingham for what was said to be a first ever lighting of a public menorah in that town.