By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Randy Goodman used to dress up as Santa Claus before hopping into his bucket truck and hanging Salisbury’s Christmas star.
But he resisted wearing the Claus costume late Tuesday night as he raised the star over the middle of the Square.
Goodman explained that too many people had begun anticipating Santa’s arrival with the Salisbury star. The extra visitors stopping by for a look had become a distraction and traffic control concern for him.
So he tried to be as inconspicuous as possible this year in hanging the star in advance of today’s Holiday Caravan. He managed the late-night traffic himself with some well-placed cones.
For Goodman and his family, the annual installation of downtown Salisbury’s Christmas decorations has become a ritual they enjoy, though it’s hard work.
The downtown has 40-plus stars and 20-plus angels that go on poles along Main and Innes streets, besides the heavy, 11-foot high star at the Square.
Each year, Goodman and his crew put up the decorations just before Thanksgiving and take them down after New Year’s Day.
As usual, 8-year-old Jack Goodman was on hand Tuesday night for the big star’s seasonal debut.
“He’s been helping me up there every year since he was born,” Randy Goodman said from his shop off Rowan Avenue early Tuesday evening.
Randy and an assistant, Tyler Cross, faced extra work this season in stripping the big star of most of its lights and replacing them.
The star now has some 1,200 “cool-white” LED and yellow incandescent bulbs. The cool-white bulbs have a blue or purple tint to them.
The star itself consists of a middle tower, from which six arms or pieces are attached. Getting set up for the star’s installation seems to take longer than raising the star itself, Randy said.
He works from a bucket truck with a 42-foot high extension and figures the star is about 35 feet in the air.
“I just hope it will look good,” Goodman said earlier at his shop.
Only about half of the star’s lights were working last Christmas.
“Hopefully, everybody will be happy with it this year,” Randy said.
Goodman has been installing downtown Salisbury’s Christmas decorations on and off for more than 20 years. Downtown Salisbury Inc. usually calls on him to put up and take down certain banners, and his company ó June Goodman & Son ó was used in installing the visiting sculptures which have been on display throughout the central business district all year.
Otherwise, he’s a contractor specializing in the renovation of downtown Salisbury buildings, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
“You know you’re getting old when you redo your own work, and I just did that on O.K. Wig,” he said.
Goodman also was the main contractor for Queen’s on South Main Street.
Goodman appreciated the decent weather he had Tuesday night for erecting the star on the Square. In years past, he has put up the star in the rain and taken it down in the snow.
He gets paid, but Goodman also sees the annual work involved with the decorations as his Christmas gift to the city.
“I feel good just to decorate the town,” he said.