{"id":49695,"date":"2025-12-03T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T12:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=49695"},"modified":"2025-12-01T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:49:23","slug":"restoring-christmas-spirit-in-cecil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/restoring-christmas-spirit-in-cecil\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring Christmas Spirit in Cecil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"666\" height=\"516\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/christmas-lights-3.jpg?fit=666%2C516&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49696\" style=\"width:450px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">For the first time in many years, Christmas lights will shine again at the firehouse in the Village of Cecil thanks to a meaningful community partnership and a bit of elbow grease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In the early 1990s, the Payne Chamber of Commerce donated a set of Christmas lights to the Village of Cecil. Jim Hooker, former Paulding County Commissioner and then-president of the Payne Chamber, remembers helping with the donation and the hope that the lights would brighten a neighboring community. After more than 30 years in storage, the lights needed significant attention, but their story was too special to leave packed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This fall, a small group of Crane Township, Cecil Village, and fire department officials came together to take on the task of refurbishing the lights. Their goal goes beyond decoration: it is about restoring pride, strengthening community spirit, and keeping alive the momentum that began during Crane Township\u2019s bicentennial year. With sold-out performances of the No Compromise! dinner theatre and more than 300 people attending the bicentennial celebration at New Rochester Park, Cecil experienced a renewed sense of togetherness that local officials hope to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"318\" height=\"517\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/christmas-lights-1.jpg?fit=318%2C517&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49697\" style=\"width:250px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The refurbished lights will be displayed on the Cecil firehouse, bringing holiday warmth and cheer to the heart of the village. In addition, the township added a few lights to the Township Hall to extend the holiday spirit even further throughout the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">What began as a simple donation in the 1990s has now become a symbol of connection between communities and a reminder that even the smallest gestures can shine brightly for decades to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Crane Township extends its gratitude to the Payne Chamber of Commerce for its gift many years ago and to all who are helping bring Christmas spirit back to Cecil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time in many years, Christmas lights will shine again at the firehouse in the Village of Cecil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/christmas-lights-3.jpg?fit=666%2C516&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-cVx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 19:35:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49698,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49695\/revisions\/49698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}