Hyde Park Main Streets

In 2005, Patrice knew that an annual ornament would be a vital piece of the puzzle for her organization to celebrate the unique elements of Hyde Park, and to help in the efforts to revitalize local communities. But there was no funding or budget to tap. Ever the advocate for this program, Patrice patiently waited. In 2008, the organization received a $25,000 grant from their District Sponsor, John Hancock Life Insurance Company via the Boston Main Streets Foundation which provided the stepping stone she had been looking for. Patrice decided to start an annual ornament program - the first year coinciding with Hyde Park’s 140th Anniversary celebration. The first ornament depicts Logan Square with the newly renovated Municipal Building , the Anderson Tree where thousands have come out for 27 years to celebrate its holiday lighting and the iconic clock and benches.

Patrice promoted the Hyde Park ornament as a “first in a series” and marketed it in several ways: on the organization’s website, via email newsletters to the membership, a local cable program and in ads and press releases to the local community newspapers. HPMS also has the good fortune to be the featured article in a quarterly newspaper called “The Shopper” which is free and sent to every home in Hyde Park. As well, Patrice showcased the ornament with the annual “Holidays on Main Streets” program to promote Shopping on Main Streets. She produced a promotional postcard which was sent to the residents indicating where the ornament could be purchased, thus promoting eight specific businesses at the same time and bringing foot traffic into the square during the holiday season.

Of course, Hyde Park’s native son, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, was first to receive the Hyde Park Main Streets’ 2008 Ornament at the Anderson Tree Lighting Ceremony. In addition, both Governor Deval Patrick and President Obama received ornaments because of the bond between Hyde Park’s 140 year history and the historical election season. Hyde Park’s past is rich with suffragette and abolitionist figures and home to the 54th Civil War Regiment, the first black regiment in the country that trained in Hyde Park. (The current 54th Massachusetts Civil War Re-Enactors were invited to march in the Inauguration Day Parade.) Since the Obama family hails from the sister neighborhood of Hyde Park, IL, Main Streets wanted to reach out to our new President with their ornament as a gesture of unity. Sending the commemorative gift on Inauguration Day, which by the way, is logged into the official White House Records, Patrice invited the President to visit Hyde Park, MA at some point during his presidency en route through Boston.

The ornament program successfully earned money for the organization, but its main purpose was to build community pride in Hyde Park and for the ornaments to serve as gifts for donors and volunteers. In addition, a portion of the sales went to benefit the local Hyde Park Food Pantry, which is also located in the featured Municipal Building.

Patrice was thrilled with the excitement people felt buying the ornament for friends and family who had moved out of Hyde Park and wanted to give them a little piece of home. Patrice’s biggest surprise was when someone from California called to purchase three ornaments. Puzzled, she later found out it was the designer of the landscape forms “Hyde Park” benches who had heard about the ornaments and wanted to give it to his children for Christmas. “It’s so exciting”, says Patrice, “how a simple thing like a Keepsake Ornament can bring people together.”

Created by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 1995 as the first urban, multi-district Main Street program in the United States, Boston Main Streets is devoted to the continued revitalization of Boston's neighborhood commercial districts through design, technical, and financial support. Today, the nationally recognized program boasts 19 districts across Boston, including Hyde Park Main Streets. Additionally, the enthusiasm from Hyde Park’s new ornament series campaign has elicited the interest of other Main Streets districts in creating their own annual program.