Rochester. Those who live there refer to it as the “God’s Country” of Tri-Town for its natural beauty, wildlife, rural charm, and bucolic backdrop of everyday simple life.

When the holiday season comes to Rochester, you can feel it in the air. You can see it in the winter constellations that spread across the unencumbered cosmos above the wide-open spaces of farms, fields, ponds, and cranberry bogs. You can find it in the illumination of the usually dark and dimly-lit back roads with houses aglow with holiday lights, some of them elaborate enough to draw higher-than-usual crowds to some quiet corner neighborhoods of town.

This being my fourth Christmas covering the Tri-Town area for The Wanderer, I have become acquainted with each town’s annual traditions that townspeople return to every year, and I have come to appreciate the modest merriment of the Rochester tree lighting. Near the steps of Town Hall, the simple strand of white lights wraps around the evergreen tree that, like ourselves, grows and ages year after year with us barely noticing at all. The star on top compels us to look up and catch a glimpse of the bright crescent “Cold Moon” of December and the guiding light of Venus, second in brightness only to the moon, and looking up at the sky activates the wonder of what it is to be alive and the all too transient feeling of how small we really are and how insignificant it is to buy gifts of things that no one truly needs with money that we do not have.

I imagine the tree, like all of us admiring it, is a joyful witness to crowds that gather beneath it, the children of Rochester Memorial School singing the songs of the season with innocent voices and smiles captured on iPhones pointed at them by proud parents smiling back. The tree then merrily watches the grand arrival of Santa upon the Rochester Fire Department’s ladder truck, its flashing lights piercing the night and exciting the children with the hopes of a candy cane and a high-five from Santa.

I imagine the stilling of the night after the crowd has gone home and the tree spends its first silent night with boughs only slightly burdened by the weight of the lights, which the tree doesn’t seem to mind at all as long as the people notice them as they go about their Christmas around it.

I imagine the tree is happy as it remains a constant year after year, night after night, into the New Year before the lights are taken down and the tree dissolves back into the simple scenery of the quiet town center, the way people prefer it around there.

So, while the rest of the region is bustling from store to store, annoyed in holiday traffic and stressing out about how little time is left to prepare for the big day, there stands the simple, unostentatious Christmas tree in the center of Rochester – a symbol of how, just maybe, the holidays could use a little more Rochester.

By Jean Perry

Five Rochester police officers headed over to Old Colony on the morning of Wednesday, November 30, where some eager cosmetology students put an official end to the Police Department’s ‘No-Shave November.’

This year, six officers participated in the seemingly ubiquitous new tradition among men – No-Shave November, which originally began as an awareness campaign for cancer, in which men show a renewed appreciation for their facial hair, something that many cancer patients lose during cancer treatment. The movement has since taken off as an awareness campaign for a number of different causes and, like the Rochester police officers who let their beards and mustaches flourish throughout the month, it acts as a conversation starter and a way to garner donations for the officers’ chosen cause – helping veterans who suffer from PTSD.

Police Chief Paul Magee said the officers approached him in October about starting a No-Shave November tradition to raise money for Home Base, a charity that provides support and mental health treatment to veterans returning home from combat. And with a number of veterans currently serving on the Rochester police force, Magee called supporting the worthy cause “a no-brainer.”

“It seemed like a good idea,” said Magee, “and a lot a lot of departments in the area were doing it, so we gave it the go-ahead.”

Officers had to pay $100 for the privilege to grow out their facial hair, which under regular circumstances is not allowed for officers serving on the force.

So, Officers Nathan Valente, Jason Denham, Alex Malo, Rob Nordahl, and Scott Smith, along with the chief himself, embarked upon a journey of facial hair growing and grooming, something most of them knew little about since they need to shave daily to report for duty.

“I hate shaving,” Magee told Old Colony student Taylor Rowe as she approached him, clippers buzzing towards his goatee. “It’s a pain when you have to shave everyday.”

But growing a beard was no breeze, either. The main complaint amongst the men in uniform: itchiness.

“And it was a lot of work to keep it somewhat decent looking,” Magee said.

Valente took his seat in front of the mirror and laughed as cosmetology student Kirsten Galas draped a silken leopard print cape around him.

“Oh yeah, this suits me,” Valente joked. Valente, who if this was a competition among them would have won for fullest and bushiest beard, admitted, “Before I joined the department, I always had facial hair.” Clearly, Valente knew what he was doing.

The chief, along with the other officers, heckled Valente a little when Galas had to seek stronger clippers to cut through the density of Valente’s dark beard, which he credited to his Portuguese genetics.

“Same ones they use on the alpacas,” kidded Valente, who was still being “sheared” as the other officers were finished – even those who also enjoyed a haircut.

For Magee, asking the assistance of the Old Colony students seemed like the perfect gesture, as part of the department’s initiative is to participate in more community interaction, especially with the youth of the area.

“To be able to come in here and have a little fun and for the kids to see that these guys are all just regular guys who have a job to do,” Magee said, is a worthwhile experience.

Magee said almost every shop at the school has assisted the police department in one way or another thus far, “So this was just a natural thought to have cosmetology do the job.”

The officers declined the invitation for a manicure and hand massage offered by cosmetology shop teacher Vanessa Raymond, but a couple of them quietly admitted that they would consider coming back at a later time for some foot action – a time when perhaps the cameras weren’t pointed at them.

Magee proudly announced that Rochester Police collected a total of $1,500 for Home Base, and before the officers left with their fresh new faces, the cosmetology teacher announced the shop would be donating another $25 to the cause.

By Jean Perry