I've been stalking Wayne Closson for years. Ever since I photographed for the wedding of his daughter, Megan. We had a grand time and Wayne had no choice! Father of the bride had to behave, especially with some local “foto geek” in the house. He reluctantly tolerated me with the help of wife Mary who was almost as happy as Wayne about being photographed. What is it about having someone point a camera lens at you? I resemble that comment. Just ask my family. “Dad, could you please smile?” “Don't make one of your silly faces please.” It's why I prefer my side of the camera. Also, helps me appreciate some folks' reluctance to be photographed.

So, the other day, on my way home from some mundane task, I noticed a small group of people gathered along the fence by the pond in front of the Southport school. Aha! A Wayne Closson sighting. Would this be a stealth capture or a direct, “Hi Wayne, nice to see you, and by the way, I just happen to have a camera with me. I'm sure you didn't notice.” Hehehe.

Wayne and two coworkers were preparing the lights that line the fence at the school. There is a big lobster in the center with several moving animations nearby. Some of the lights are holdovers from the Mrs. Cowan holiday cheer program that she delighted in for years. Remember her Christmas parties at the Southport Town Hall. Oh dear! What a festive and wonderful experience. How she loved Christmas, and fire crackers. Her Fourth of July was wild — but that's another story.

I asked a couple questions about the decorations and Wayne proceeded to tell me about how the lobster was drawn out by hand on a couple pieces of plywood which became a pattern for aluminum welded by Henry Berne. The same lobster lived on the roof of Robinson's Wharf and on one of the Winslow tugs, supervised by Marge Winslow. It was truly fascinating to hear Wayne talk about all the lights and wires and shorts and re-bulbing required to keep everything going. Wayne and his crew do a stellar job of decorating a lot of downtown Southport. I forget how long he has been doing it — maybe 30 years. Some of the original artwork was created by Bill Harris at “The Register,” so you know it is good stuff.

The kicker of my visit, along with Wayne's lack of photo resistance, was when he told me about a meeting he had after one of Mrs. Cowan's Christmas parties. He said people were pretty much gone and Mrs. Cowan called him aside for what he referred to as “a chat.” “What else can we do to decorate the town?” she asked. Wayne suggested Christmas lighting of the Southport bridge. He said Mrs. Cowan practically came out of her chair with excitement. “Oh, that would be great!” she said. So Wayne set about trying to make the arrangements. The idea met with considerable resistance from the Army Corps of Engineers. It was an awesome plan which, as we all know, never happened. But that sure didn't dampen Mrs. Cowan's excitement or Wayne's determination. Honestly, if Mrs. Cowan were alive today, not only would there be lights on the bridge, there would be a monumental fireworks display to accompany it.

Thanks for a great visit Wayne and your diminished reluctance to be photographed. I guess I forgot to ask.