Donors spark holiday lighting; Vow brings Clinton's first Christmas tree in years.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Karen Nugent

CLINTON - A lot of campaign promises were made during the recent national elections, but the one Selectman Michael J. Dziokonski made two years ago came through yesterday afternoon.

A brand new Christmas tree was lighted in Central Park following the annual selectmen's Christmas party across the street at Town Hall. The 40-foot-tall decorated tree is the first of its kind seen in town for years - perhaps ever.

"I hope to slowly expand this over the years, and have more trees and decorations in Central Park and throughout downtown," Mr. Dziokonski said after the ceremony.

A selectman during the 1990s, he ran for his current three-year term with a vow to bring holiday lighting to Clinton.

Once the seat was won, he began his quest by forming the Holiday Lighting Subcommittee, of which he is chairman. The volunteer group initially focused on bringing back lighted wreathes along High Street, but as donations slowly came in, an effort was made to get an impressive display in Central Park.

Mr. Dziokonski said a group of four businessmen, who don't want their names revealed, came through with money for the hundreds of lights and power for the new tree. Building Inspector Tony Zahariadis yesterday had the honor of throwing the switch to light up the tree, after a few rounds of caroling by Brownies and other youngsters.

The party drew about 300 children, who packed the Fallon Memorial Auditorium at Town Hall to visit Santa, aka Buck Thompson, along with activities such as face painting, caricatures, balloon sculpting, a magic show, raffles, goodie bags and lots of refreshments.

The annual free bash is organized by Joyce A. Corbosiero, the selectmen's administrative assistant. She was spotted with a "Line Ends Here" sign hanging off her shirt, because the queue for caricatures, by Weymouth-based Fun Enterprises, was going over the time limit. Five artists did black-and-white likenesses of the children.

Brothers Keaghan, 8, Teague, 7, and Brody, 4, O'Leary, who were...