SMMA announces new officers, awards
President Joe Carlucci announced new officers for the San Marco Merchants Association (SMMA), who will take charge in January 2021 and bestowed two awards from the merchant’s association to members of the community, during a hybrid-in-person SMMA meeting Nov. 11 at Southside Baptist Church.
Scott Wohlers, vice president of Riverplace Capital Management, will take over as president of the merchant’s association, while Leah Roesler, owner of Cascade Outdoor Design, will serve as vice president and Heidi Roberts, vice president and universal branch manager of Ameris Bank, will serve as treasurer. Wohlers has been serving alongside Carlucci as vice president this year while Roesler has been an active SMMA board member for several years.
The group also awarded Community Partner Awards to 1st Place Sports for its “outstanding support of San Marco Merchants Association activities,” and to Southside Baptist Church’s Senior Pastor Dr. Gary Webber for the support the church has lent the organization by opening its facility to meetings and generously sharing its parking lots with the community.
Carlucci also announced changes in the normal Christmas activities planned for San Marco Square due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Although the annual Christmas Tree Lighting will be held in Balis Park as usual on Friday, Dec. 4, the activity will only last a half hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Instead of community choral, band, and dance groups providing entertainment, a single soloist will sing Christmas carols at the event, he said. “Santa will be there, but there will be no sitting on Santa’s lap this year,” Carlucci said. To help alleviate disappointment from young children who will not be able to whisper their wish lists to Santa this year, SMMA is setting up a special mailbox in the square especially for Santa letters, he said.
After the Christmas Tree Lighting, a Christmas Classic movie will be shown on the Southside United Methodist Church property at 6:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Dec. 5, the annual Festival of Lights road race sponsored by 1st Place Sports will take place at 5:30 p.m. for its one-mile fun run and 6 p.m. for its 5-kilometer race. Traffic through the square will be shut down from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. to prepare for the races, he said. As in years before, there will be festivities throughout the square but in a “reduced” manner compared to other years, he said, adding that the merchants plan to decorate the square by wrapping all the light poles and installing 45 new wreaths on all the light poles in San Marco.
By Marcia Hodgson
Resident Community News
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