HOLLY POND, Ala. – As part of its annual Christmas celebration, the Town of Holly Pond lit up Governors Park the week after Thanksgiving. New Mayor Carla Hart expressed interest in increasing the number of decorations for the display each year, and this year’s addition began what she hopes to be a new Christmas tradition – the lighting of a community Christmas tree.
The Town has never held a live tree lighting before this year, and despite the cold weather and pandemic restrictions, Hart was pleased at the number of people who turned out to watch the ceremony last week.
“The council approved the purchase of a 12-foot tree from a tree farm in the area, and we got some decorations to go on it,” she said in a brief interview. “But the biggest thing about this is that anyone in the community – or really anyone in general, not just Holly Pond residents – were allowed to bring their own decorations and add them to the tree. In fact, they can still do that! I’ve seen people come up during the week and add some decorations, so people are still welcome to do that.”
Hart said one of her goals as mayor is not only expanding the number of decorations in the park each year, but also working on getting the decorations set up earlier. Currently, the Town sets up the decorations the week after Thanksgiving. However, Hart said that this schedule has presented some issues, and she’s looking to other towns’ decoration schedules as examples.
Said Hart, “See, we haven’t really had any problems or setbacks in regards to the virus. Really all the challenges we’ve had in getting this set up was the weather and the temperature. Rain and cold makes it hard to get out and set things up.”
Hart emphasized that Holly Pond’s Christmas decorations are for everyone to enjoy, not just the town’s residents.
“We just want to welcome everyone in the community and everyone outside the community to come and enjoy a bit of Christmas spirit,” she said. “We want to take people’s minds off of all the bad that’s happened this year and help them get in a festive mood.”
The community is invited to the Holly Pond Civitan Club’s annual Cards in the Park and Christmas Luminaries celebration this Friday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. at the park.
Copyright 2020 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
