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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2020)
SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2020 | 5A Florence Chamber encourages residents to ‘Shop Where You Live’ Florence has made a num- ber of adjustments to its an- nual holiday festivities to comply with COVID-19-re- lated regulations while still offering some festivities to preserve commerce in the small town. Postponed to next year are Santa’s celebrated arriv- al, hayrides on Bay Street, the mayor’s tree lighting, the cocoa and cookie trails, and live music. This year, in their place, the Florence Area Cham- ber of Commerce is inviting those who shop to vote for the best decorated of more than 15 participating shops and galleries, then drop off their ballot to enter to win a valuable “swag bag” full of goodies and certificates from Florence-area mer- chants. The free ballot is avail- able beginning Nov. 27 at FlorenceChamber.com un- der the events tab. Com- pleted ballots are due Dec. 26 at the Chamber’s Visitor Center, 290 Highway 101 in Florence, to be entered for the drawing. “Florence shops and gal- leries are full of those kinds of things,” said Bettina Han- nigan, president/CEO of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce. “We need to rally together to save small businesses in Florence. Stores and other business- es will be putting up their most festive holiday dé- cor — inside and out — in hopes of earning shoppers’ votes for the best overall displays. At stake will be a special trophy declaring them the winner.” Hannigan said she rec- ognizes there are logistical concerns about going out in public, so she strongly rec- ommends wearing a good mask, keeping a 6-foot dis- tance from others, carrying a small bottle of hand sani- tizer and using it regularly. “Please follow protocols while getting around to our many shops and galleries for your holiday shopping, and while doing so, be merry and cheerful toward other shoppers and shop- keepers,” she added. “’Shop Small Saturday,’ the day af- ter traditional Black Friday, is now a month-long cele- bration of local businesses in Historic Old Town Flor- ence and around town. “Instead of spending all your funds online, come spend them finding pre- cious, unique gifts for friends and loved ones — something truly unique and special for family and friends — in Florence.” City Interpretive Site, Gazebo Park and the restroom area at Maple Street,” Messmer said. Originally scheduled to start on holiday décor this week, Public Works staff members have been hard at work to mitigate damage from the recent series of storms. “As of today, it still has the pumpkin, understand- ably,” Messmer said Wednesday of the interpre- tive site on Bay Street. “Their plans got a little shifted, so they’re going to be very busy over the next several days.” The interpretive site is also the home of Florence’s living Christmas tree, which was installed in 2017. The tree gets deco- rated with lights and deco- rations by Public Works staff utilizing a lift. “The main question we’re getting is about a tree lighting festival. That will not be occurring,” Messmer said. That’s not to say that Florence won’t still be full of the holiday spirit. In addition, the tree will be lit, just not in a public presen- tation. “Usually the majority of Public Works staff help with the light displays at some point,” Messmer said. “Some of the things take more hands, like getting the big tree decorated.” In addition, staff will be decorating Florence City Hall, the Florence Justice Center and the Public Works Facility. Public Works also teams up with Central Lincoln PUD to install the snow- flake displays on utility poles. “Those will start appear- ing soon depending on our weather,” Messmer said. PUD staff has also had their hands full restoring power and repairing lines after the storm. As part of the decora- tions, Public Works will also be installing a collec- tion of holiday displays that will be set up around town. These will be places for people to take pictures and give them an excuse to look at the holiday decora- tions around town. The second part of the city’s holiday celebration is a partnership with Florence Habitat for Humanity on the 2020 Holiday LED Light Contest. According to the event’s Facebook page, “Many of our traditional community celebrations have gone dark. We have plans to make the holidays bright in Florence!” The city worked with Habitat staff and Executive Director Janell Morgan to plan the two categories of the contest — residential and commercial — and subsequent prizes. Lights included in the displays must be LED. Now through Dec. 10, people can sign up their homes and businesses for the contest. All decorations and all lights must be up by Dec. 10 and remain on dis- play through Dec. 25. “It’s for the whole com- munity. You don’t have to be a chamber member and you don’t have to be in the city limits,” Messmer said. “There will also be prizes and people can vote on it.” People can sign up at T h e Siu s l aw Ne w s . c om , which is hosting the con- test online. That is also where people can vote and view a map of participants. Messmer said the light- ing contest was spearhead- ed by Morgan. “She was all for it and kicked it off. … Thank you to Habitat for helping us. It’s a lot of work, and Habitat has been a really good community partner in this,” she said, also thanking Coast Radio KCST/KCFM and Siuslaw News for supporting the event. Habitat Administrative Assistant Ivy Rash said, “We’ve spent a lot of hours finding ways to be positive and encourage the com- munity. It’s too easy to be gloomy this time of year.” Hence the lighting con- test and Habitat’s numer- ous other events listed at florencehabitat.square- space.com. These include a holiday raffle, gingerbread house contest, an upcycle challenge, Ugly Sweater Party and business-orient- ed events at the Habitat ReStore, 2016 Highway 101. “We know we can’t do things face-to-face this year, but we wanted to come up with ways to lift the community up and bring us together,” Rash said. The city’s third holiday activity is a way for kids — and kids at heart — to interact with the North Pole and its famous resi- dent. “We’re going to have Letters to Santa,” Messmer said. “We are putting North Pole Express mail drop box in Old Town. And then we’ll have our elves write responses to those.” From Nov. 25 to Dec. 20, the North Pole Express mailbox will be available at the Siuslaw River Bridge Interpretive Center for kids of all ages to drop off their letters to Santa. People who leave a return mailing address will get a hand- penned letter from Santa’s local representatives. “Who knows how many letters we’re going to get?” Messmer said. “It depends on how many people par- ticipate. It should be fun.” Fun is a major reason for the changes this year. “We’re just trying to do something fun, because it’s not been the most fun year,” Messmer said. “All of these activities are pretty much designed for you to do on your own, as a com- munity. You decorate your house and then drive by, and both of those things are individualized yet everybody can see them and do it. Same thing with writing a letter — that’s a pretty physically distant activity. And the holiday photo ops are also some- thing you can do with just your little group or family.” She added that these socially distant events may continue. “They aren’t really things that necessarily feel like they’re COVID related, but are things you could do every year. It just fits in nicely with the physical distancing,” Messmer said. “I would imagine a lot more people are staying home, who may otherwise be traveling. So maybe that’ll give them the oppor- tunity to decorate their own homes. And you can win a prize!” For more information on the City of Florence’s holiday activities, visit w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / CityofFlorenceOregon and ci.florence.or.us. from 1A Works staff. “We will be putting lights up at all of our facili- ties, just like we do every year. 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