By DANIEL SUDDEATH
Develop New Albany and the city are attempting to put the bang back in the annual Holiday Fest this year.
Support for the event — which will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday — has waned in recent years but a collective effort to get more businesses behind the seasonal celebration should revive the spirit said Matt Denison, president of the Board of Public Works and Safety.
City employees joined Develop New Albany members Tuesday to begin decorating downtown with more than $3,000-worth of energy efficient LED Christmas lights. The lights were paid for by Develop New Albany and any downtown business can have them installed on their property while supplies last.
“Our goal is to outline as many downtown buildings as possible and even decorate some of the surrounding landscape,” stated Floyd County Historian and Develop New Albany member David Barksdale in an e-mail.
The New Albany Fire Department has been aiding in the installation, and Street Department Director Mickey Thompson with the help of Padgett Construction transferred a donated, 45-foot blue spruce tree from Floyds Knobs to downtown that will be lit at 5:45 p.m. Saturday.
Santa Claus will do the tree lighting honors. The packed activity lineup includes toy give-aways at the MainSource stage at 2:30 and 5:15 p.m., pictures with Santa at the Floyd County branch of the YMCA of Southern Indiana from 3 to 5 p.m. as well as a chili cook-off that will last for the duration of the event.
There will also be downtown carriage rides Saturday, and Scribner House, the Culbertson Mansion and the Carnegie Center for Art and History will be open for tours.
“A lot of people have come together for this — it’s been a great effort between Develop New Albany and the city,” Denison said. “It’s been a lot of work, but it’s also been a lot of fun.”
Several downtown businesses are participating in the event in their own way.
Destinations Booksellers, located at 604 E. Spring St., is using Saturday as a chance to raise funds for Community Alliance to Promote Education, or C.A.P.E.
From 7 a.m. to midnight, volunteers will read Christmas stories in 30 minute intervals. The volunteers are asked to solicit at least $30 in pledges for C.A.P.E., all of which will go toward the organization’s early-childhood book distribution program in Floyd County.
Donations can still be given if a person can’t attend the reading marathon.
Other businesses are donating time and supplies to make Holiday Fest a success. Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services is providing cookies and Insight Cable is assisting with the setup of the Christmas tree.
For more information, visit the Web site www.developna.org.
IF YOU GO
• Holiday Fest runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday and is centered downtown at the MainSource Bank parking lot and the YMCA. Events include a toy giveaway at 2:30 and 5:15 p.m., pictures with Santa from 3 to 5 p.m. at the YMCA and the tree lighting at 5:45 p.m.
