Decorating Delmarva

Decorating Delmarva
Holiday Festival of Lights

Thank you Delmarva for a WONDERFUL opening year. We look forward to BIGGER and BETTER in November & December 2013!

The holiday spirit was still in the air on the Eastern Shore Tuesday night. The Create 1 Dream Foundation held their Inaugural Community Awards Ceremony at the Legacy Banquet and Conference Center, in Salisbury. The awards ceremony honored participants from the 2012 Decorating Delmarva Holiday Festival of Lights event.

Over 125 people turned out for the event which honored area schools, non-profits and charity groups on Delmarva. The event began with a recap as well as a look ahead to this year’s event from CEO and Founder Mark Cathell. The evening continued with guest speakers John Hollis of the Nemours Company and Dr. John Fredericksen, Superintendent of Wicomico County Schools. Both men discussed the importance of events such as Decorating Delmarva being a healthy tool in building stronger communities here on the peninsula.

Mr. Hollis stated this event encouraged young adults to follow their dreams just as Mr. Cathell had succeeded in accomplishing. Hollis stated his biggest fear, “Children today need to understand life’s successes are just not handed to you.” You have to set goals, create a plan of action and follow it through until the project or task is completed. He also shared our youth need positive role models from local communities; people they can touch and understand. These local heroes share their experiences and how they overcame life’s challenges, persevered and worked hard to accomplish and become the individuals they are today. Mr. Cathell had shared his life story with Mr. Hollis and his Merit group of students during the 2012 event. (Mr. Hollis founded the Minority Engineering Regional Incentive Training Program, or M.E.R.I.T. )

Dr. Fredericksen shared his feelings of how the event created unity back into our communities. This event was something parents were proud to take their kids to. So much violence is portrayed on TV, movies and video games anymore and this event was just clean family fun. He stated, it reminded him of the old drive in movie days, except you didn’t have to sneak in a friend in the trunk of the car, because Mr. Cathell made it affordable for the entire family to attend at fifteen dollars for a car load. Dr. Fredericksen applauded the Cathell family for their charitable giving, as two schools from his system received top honors, Delmar Elementary and Salisbury Middle School.