Old Saybrook starts off the holiday season in earnest this week with its annual Saybrook Stroll and new tradition, the Heroes Tree ceremony, and continues on next weekend with the annual Torchlight Parade.

The first event, the Heroes Tree, starts at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4. The event honors those who have served in the military.

Holidays are a time to celebrate with family, and to remember those no longer with us. It was in this spirit that Kathryn Cross, a Navy Gold Star Mother, decided to create an annual holiday tradition to remember and honor military veterans and service members. What she created was a Heroes Tree, lit in a special ceremony each year on the first Friday of December. Hung on the Heroes Tree each year are individual stars that honor the state’s military veterans and service members: gold stars for deceased veterans, silver stars for the injured, and blue stars for those in active service.

This year’s ceremony will be held in the upper lobby of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. The Kate was originally chosen as the site of the Heroes Tree because like Kathryn Cross, Katharine Hepburn’s sister Peg was a Gold Star Mother. She lost her son Tommy in Vietnam in 1968. Eric Parker, WFSB Eyewitness News morning co-anchor, will be the event’s master of ceremonies. He will be joined by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Stonington First Selectman Colonel Robert Simmons, and Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr.

The song “God Bless America” will be sung by Michelle DellaFave, a member of the Golddiggers song and dance troupe on the Dean Martin Show and the Bob Hope Christmas tour. Local veterans and residents are invited to attend.

Following the Heroes Tree ceremony, stores along Main Street will open their doors at 5:30 p.m. for the annual kick-off of the town’s holiday season, the Saybrook Winter Stroll.

Saybrook Winter Stroll

Have you finished your holiday shopping yet? Why not look locally for that special treasure that your family member will treasure? Come and stroll Main Street’s many shop to find that special gift at the annual Saybrook Winter Stroll on Main Street on Dec. 4, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Following the Heroes Tree ceremony at The Kate, singers will lead attendees in a Christmas Carol sing-along just outside The Kate to kick-off the annual Saybrook Stroll along Main Street.

While walking along Main Street, shoppers will be entertained by various performances and can stop and sample each retail establishment’s special offerings of food.

Activities for kids are also planned including a special spot where children can meet Santa.

For more information about the Stroll, contact the Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce office at 860-388-3266.

The Torchlight Parade

Come to the town’s annual Torchlight Parade on Saturday, Dec. 12, and step back in time as fife and drum corps from around the state march down Main Street led by volunteer torch-bearers to light the way.

As in past years, the parade’s marchers will start at the Liberty Bank parking lot at Coulter and Main Streets and end at the Town Green. Step off is at 6 p.m. Volunteers interested in carrying torches in the parade should meet at Liberty Bank at 5:45 p.m.

Leading the musician groups once again will be the 2nd Company Governor’s Foot Guard marching unit. Several militia marching groups will also join the parade this year.

About 24 fife and drum corps hailing from throughout Connecticut and some from surrounding states will fall in step behind the Governor’s Foot Guard this year.

Wilcox Energy of Westbrook will donate the fuel for the parade’s torches. Decorated floats will roll along Main Street in between the musician bands.

Parade organizers will present three awards that evening: one for the best fife and drum corps, one for the best float, and one for the best pipes and drums.

Refreshments for the marching units and the general public will be coordinated by the Old Saybrook Rotary Club with donations provided also by local merchants. After the last unit passes the parade stand, the public can fall in behind them to march to the Town Green for hot cocoa and refreshments.

The Torchlight Parade re-enacts an annual event held in many New England towns during the Colonial period. Each December, the village militia would muster and march to the village common led by their fife and drum corps. Marchers and local residents would carry torches to light the procession. This Old Saybrook parade commemorates that annual event.

The annual Torchlight Parade will step off regardless of weather. The event has only been canceled once for bad weather in its 45 year history. For more information, search for Old Saybrook Torchlight Parade on Facebook or contact Torchlight Parade Coordinator Sandy Clark at 860-399-9767.