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Countdown to Christmas

Downtown getting dressed for the holiday season

ALPENA — Today may only be Halloween, but Alpena Department of Public Works employees have been preparing the downtown for the Christmas season for about a week.

Thanks to funding from the Alpena Downtown Development Authority, there will be some new decorative features this year that should be in place before the annual Bolenz Jewelry Holiday Parade, which happens Nov. 23.

According to DDA Executive Director Anne Gentry, the design committee has approved new lights and fresh green decorations. She said the new additions should improve the aesthetics of downtown and increase the festive spirit of those who visit.

“We are switching the color lights that are on the wreaths on the short lamp poles to a soft white and they should be in place before the parade, as long as they are delivered in time,” Gentry said. “We have also ordered new bows for all of the short wreaths. In the past, they have been a gold trim, but we decided to go with the more traditional 14-inch, bright red, classic look bow, which is made for the outdoors.

There will also be some new additions at Culligan Plaza. Gentry said she has been working with Falls Creek Produce and received quotes for live decorations. She said those will be added to areas around the plaza where there hasn’t been any in the past.

“We’ll have them around the tree and on the lamp posts,” she said. “We may also have some around Santa’s house. Then we’ll see what kind of feedback we get and see if we do it again next year.”

Last year, when Gentry raised the idea of replacing and improving decorations, she asked for correspondence from business owners. She said nearly all of the respondents wanted the white or clear lights, as well as to see more lights hung. She said the general public has also been supportive of the idea and more improvements are likely coming in future years.

Earlier this year, Gentry had some sample street light decorations sent to the DDA office for consideration. She said they were beautiful and could be purchased in the future, for about $80,000.

“We’re going to look at it again in March or April, when people aren’t thinking about Christmas and prices tend to come down some,” Gentry said.

Each year, DDA submits its capital improvement plan to the city. She said there is already funding approved for the next two years for additional decorations or improvements, but added a public fundraising effort for the more elaborate decorations could also be launched.

This year, there was $20,000 approved and there is another $10,000 for next year, she said. For 2020, there is $5,000.

“That would allows us to do continuous updates, but those amounts can change,” Gentry said.

The Christmas tree for this year was also cut down on Wednesday and is slated to be put into its stand at Culligan Plaza on Thursday. For the second year in a row, Alpena County donated a large fir tree from the Alpena County Fairgrounds to the city.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.

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