Business owners help light up Warwick for the holiday season

WARWICK — Moshe Schwartzberg, owner of Forever Jewelers, enjoys the way the Village of Warwick, individual Main Street merchants and the Warwick Gardeners light up the area with colorful decorations during "Home for the Holidays."

However, he also observed that the north end of the business district, where many visitors first arrive, did not feature that same celebrative look.

So, as a member of the Town of Warwick Historical Society, Schwartzberg suggested that it's headquarters, the A.W. Buckbee Center at 2 Colonial Ave., which was formerly the Albert Wisner Public Library, would be a good place to start.

He and Michael Bertolini, owner of Bertolini & Co. Home and Garden, offered to purchase the lights and local contractor John Pacos volunteered the expertise and labor.

Since it was important to shop local, they purchased the lights and other equipment from Wadeson's Home Center.

And, in turn, Wadeson's donated the Christmas tree that now sits at the front entrance to the well-decorated A.W. Buckbee Center.

"It is so great when a community comes together like this to do something nice for the village," said Mark Kurtz, president of the Town of Warwick Historical Society. "And this was totally unsolicited."

Schwartzberg would like to see more holiday lighting projects by several new businesses at that end of the business district and he is planning to spearhead another one for the Historical Society's Baird Tavern.

Decorating the A.W. Buckbee Center was also another testimony to the ecumenical spirit in Warwick.

Each year Schwartzberg, who was born in Israel, officiates at the annual Menorah lighting in Lewis Park, where the Warwick Fire Department sponsors the annual Christmas tree lighting and where the Menorah and the Nativity Scene are both displayed, courtesy of the Historical Society.

Many years ago, Schwartzberg was one of the businessmen instrumental in creating a holiday season display at Railroad Green. In 1997 his wife, Doris, designed and painted an all-new sleigh for Santa with the materials and hands-on labor that he supplied.

Schwartzberg also supplied the lumber for master carpenter John Tinnirello, a Catholic, who had offered to build the current wooden Menorah at Lewis Park.