‘ Tis the season for making Christmas plans

‘ Tis the season for making Christmas plans

West Memphis already gearing up for the spreading of holiday cheer

news@theeveningtimes.com

September comes up on the calendar and suddenly it is Christmas time. The local Cracker Barrel has already decorated a tree with 2016 offerings and placed it right in the path to the hostess stand. West Memphis Tourism Director Jim Jackson paraded right behind, asking the City Council permission to spend funds for the city’s Christmas decorations for this season. Festive displays for Worthington Park and the Martin Luther King Junior Commuter Park were discussed, along with the city’s annual Christmas parade around the council chamber at the Sept. 1 council meeting during a pre-council work session as well as on the council floor. Last Thursday, Jackson delivered the details and unpacked the plans but no pawing or prancing of even one single hoof was heard on the city hall roof.

“I wanted to see if I could waive competitive bidding on the Christmas lights again this year,” said Jackson. “There really is only one person available to take care of that for us that we can depend on to take care of any issues, especially during the season.”

Proposed Christmas spending stood at $45,000.

Jackson said it was time to order the tree, the centerpiece of the city’s Worthington Park decorations.

“That includes the tree,” said Jackson, “That is the bulk of it, but it is also replacing the lights on the bridge over the bayou there and the lights on the tree on the Missouri Street side of the park. We are decorating the whole park.”

More new LED light displays will be added to the holiday assortment again this year. Last year the city placed a Nativity scene and a Santa shooting baskets.

Twinkling lights will add action to the display, an improvement over static presentations in previous years. Jackson talked about the updates. “That includes replacing some of the old decorations with animated LED lights,” said Jackson. “I’ve asked for three or four more this year.”

After Jackson spoke about the contract for the Worthington Park decorations, some council members wondered how wide spread the Christmas light would be throughout the rest of the city.

“What about the other parts of the city, are we going to do anything?”

asked councilwoman Lorraine Robinson. “Will there be lights on the Interstate?” “Yes, we do that,” replied Jackson, “but our city utility department helps us with the other displays around the city. They’ll help at Worthington Park.

But, we’ll have some on the east side of town and the at the Martin Luther King share ride park. This ordinance we are talking about is specifically for Worthington Park.”

“Can we do a little bit more at MLK Park?” asked councilman Willis Mondy.

“It’s seen off the expressway and people can go out there. People drive through the area and can see all that right there.”

“I don’t know why not,” replied Jackson. “We have a lot of decorations, we just need to do some maintenance on some more. We have a lot of frames that need new lights.”

Before the council approved waiving the competitive bid, councilwoman Ramona Taylor confirmed, “We brought you names from the Municipal League; you did contact them and they weren’t interested.”

“That’s correct,” replied Jackson. “We did bid this two years ago. It was just too difficult for them to make sure they could keep things working. This gentlemen is from the area, grew up in West Memphis, is nearby and comes right over if we have an issue.”

By John Rech