To the editor:
We have all heard (or read) “The Merchants of Venice,” but did you know that Warren had its own “Merchant of Water Street,” aka Gary Wagenbach, who owned Mercier’s Hardware?
This is the history of how the lights on Water Street for the holiday season came to be:
In 1985 the Historic Water Street Merchants Association asked the local merchants and residents of Water Street to run extension cords for Christmas lights in front of their property to their trees and town trees. In 1992 Gary Wagenbach of Mercier’s Hardware obtained permission from the Town of Warren to have the cable installed on Water Street for the tree lights. He then asked workers at Narragansett Electric to volunteer their time and labor to install the cable. Once the cable was installed by these workers, Gary then donated all the original Christmas lights from Mercier’s Hardware to the Town of Warren, who strung the lights for the first town lighting of Water Street in November of 1993.
Rest in Peace Gary. Your “lights” will always shine down upon us.
Penny Catalano
581 Child St.