On the Blvd
Downtown prepares for Santa's arrival
Downtown visitors will be seeing red during the holiday season, and that's just what merchants want.
The Lawrence Commerce and Visitors Bureau once again is sponsoring the Festival of Poinsettias in conjunction with Downtown Lawrence Inc., an association of downtown merchants.
The festival places the traditional holiday plants in participating stores to draw attention to the city and its businesses during the holiday season.
This is the third year of the festival, which was started when Rob Phillips of the Eldridge Hotel approached the Commerce and Visitors Bureau with an idea he thought would draw attention to Lawrence.
"It's basically a packaging of events that are happening in town," said Sarah Greenlee, a member of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The festival is based on the Tulip Festival in Pella, Iowa, Phillips said. "The idea of any festival is to draw visitors to the city. We have people come from as far as Nebraska or Iowa," he said.
Pence Garden Center and Greenhouse at 15th and New York streets grows the plants for the festival.
In addition to the poinsettias, downtown also will be decorated with lights.
Downtown Lawrence Inc. sponsors the display, which began Nov. 30.
The lights are turned on daily at dusk and
remain lighted until about midnight, except for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve,
when they stay on all night.
The lights, hung by the city's public works department, are strung on every other tree on Massachusetts Street from Sixth to 11th streets.
The lights will come down Jan. 2.
Lisa Blair, executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said that those in charge of lighting were working to centralize the ceremony this year. In previous years, the lights followed a fire truck going down the street.
"It looked like landing strip lights coming on, one block after another," Blair said. "We'd like to have a ceremony this year somewhat like the Plaza's [in Kansas City, Mo.] , where someone would throw a switch."
The fire truck still would play a role in the ceremony. It must rescue Santa from the rooftop of Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts St.
After his rescue, Santa will sit in his tiny house in front of Mercantile Bank, 900 Massachusetts St., where he will listen to children's Christmas wishes.
Santa's House will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays,11 a.m.to 4 p.m.Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Santa will welcome children from 10 a.m. to noon Christmas eve.
—BY ADAM KUBAN
Photo Courtesy Adam Kuban
John Holmburg, Lawrence senior, cares for the poinsettias at Pence Garden Center and Greenhouse. The greenhouse grows all the plants for Lawrence's Festival of Poinsettias.
R
Hawk Holidays
~Hill • December 6, 1995