Vote For Stanley's House: Here's How

If Stanley Marion's holiday lights extravaganza on Wanton Shippee wins, EG public schools will get $100,000 from Patch.

Stanley Marion is passionate about Christmas lights. If his display on Wanton Shippee gets the most votes, we can all share that passion because the winner of Patch's "Deck the House" holiday decoration contest earns $100,000 for his town's public schools.  Stanley's interest in outdoor light decorations began when he was living in Warwick, said he mom, Bernice Burgess, the owner of the Wanton Shippee house. Stanley moved to Florida briefly, decorating his house there, but when he returned to Rhode Island and moved to Wanton Shippee, he didn't bring his lights. That lasted about a year, Bernice said. Then, Stanley started accumulating lights again, adding more elements each year.  "This is the one thing he truly truly loves besides …

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Enter Patch's “Deck the House” Contest For a Chance to Win $100,000

Did you decorate your house for the holidays this year? Enter our "Deck the House" contest and you could win $100,000 for your local school district and $500 to pay your electric bills!

We’re launching our annual Deck the House Contest to find the most over-the-top holiday decorations in America – the best “decked” house in the country –the one home so spectacularly decorated that everyone in town jokes your holiday decorations could rival Rockefeller Center’s. If this sounds like your house, upload a photo or video of your home to our contest page from Nov. 26 to Dec. 16 to http://deckthehouse.patch.com/contest/eastgreenwich/entry Only residents of Patch towns are eligible to enter. We’ll select 24 regional finalists, and from them, pick one grand-prize winner. Patch will pay up to $500 of the utility bill for each finalist, while our national winner will have $100,000 donated to his or her local school district. So, …

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District Or Insurer Will Be Responsible For Cole Lighting Fixes

The malfunction was an “act of God,” says official, not a design or product flaw.

The School Committee heard the most detailed report thus far on the cause of the electrical problems at Cole Middle School Tuesday night. A study from the electrical contractor stated an electrical surge during Tropical Storm Irene on Aug. 28 is to blame for the malfunctions. Jon Winikur of Strategic Building Solutions presented the findings during the School Committee’s regular meeting in the library at Cole. According to Winikur, the system is now fully restored. How much that restoration will cost the district has yet to be determined. A bill has been sent to the schools’ insurer. At the meeting Tuesday night, school officials did not have the figure for how much had been spent. Winikur did estimate that the cost of running the lights …

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Best Of Stories, 2011: Sports

EG Patch recounts the best sports stories of the year.

Looking back over the past year, there were several championship seasons in 2011 and several near misses too. Last spring yielded three state champion teams at East Greenwich High School. Then, this fall, EGHS saw state championships slip from their grasp three different times. For all the field teams, Carcieri Field is really home now, a year and a half after its delayed opening. Over the summer, town Public Works employees built the snack bar for the field, fulfulling a long-held dream for members of both the Booster Club and the Fields Committee. One sports story that didn’t make our top five this year but deserves a mention is the addition of lights at Cragan Field last May. Through its citrus drive, the EG Rotary Club continues to …

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Stone Ridge Luminaria Lights Up The Night

For the 28th year in a row, residents of the Stone Ridge neighborhood line their streets brown paper bags lit by candles but the tradition goes back even further.

What began in 1976 with just the 20 homeowners who lived in the Stone Ridge area then, was a hopping holiday event Saturday night, with blocks and blocks of streets lined with the decorative candle-lit paper bags, and slow parades of cars driving by to take in the scene. It started with the Scott family, who moved to Stone Ridge from New Mexico, where luminaria displays are the tradition. According Anne Sauerbrey, on an afternoon in December that first year, the women of the neighborhood, along with their young children, got together to fold their bags. They were told the bags were to be folded three times, in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. They learned that the luminaria was used in Mexican tradition to light the way for…

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Rants and Raves

Snap Out Of It - It's A Christmas Tree, Already!

What to love and hate about living in East Greenwich this week.

RANT: Holiday, schmoliday. Hmmm. It occurs to me that at this point, I should probably insert a WARNING and DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A RANT. Turn back now/abandon hope all ye who enter here and so forth. The content below contains language, opinion, and some general stuff that’s probably going to tick some people off and possibly even hurt feelings. So consider yourself warned and do not come whining to me if you get yours wounded - anyway, that’s what the comment box is for. Okay, still with me? All-righty. So this whole brouhaha with Governor Chafee and the holiday tree has me rolling my eyes, twisting my head 360 degrees and spewing curses. Cue the Exorcist ... now there’s a nice religious movie for the whole family. Lissenup, folks, it’s a…

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Cragan Lights Up!

First it was the new lights, turned on officially for the first time last night. But then it was the lightning, which eventually caused the game to be postponed.

There was electricity in the air - literally - Saturday night for the formal turning on of the lights at Cragan Field. In the end, that lightning (and thunder and rain) caused the game between the Yankees and the Orioles to be postponed. But the wet weather held off long enough so that the ceremonial turning on the lights took place as planned. Cragan Field is the home of East Greenwich Little League. But night games weren't possible until now. With financial help from the East Greenwich Rotary and others, EGLL was able to install lights. Chris Plympton and Mark Silvia co-chaired the effort. As to which teams would get the honor of being the first to play under the lights, Plympton said that was randomly selected by the computer program …

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