Greenwood lights up for Christmas cheer
By Mona Mattei
Christmas season officially started in Greenwood when their 30-foot evergreen was lit last week. The Greenwood Board of Trade hosted the community Christmas tree light up on Friday, Dec. 11 where locals sampled free coffee, hot chocolate and hot dogs while visiting around a fire.
Jim Nathorst, president of the board, said that the light up is an annual event, but this is the first year they had it in the new lot on the highway across from the library and McArthur Centre. The lot is privately owned, but the City of Greenwood has leased it for a period of five years.
“It was the first year we put it on in the new lot so we’re pretty excited about that,” said Nathorst. “Lots of work went into it and from what we’ve seen so far it’s been really successful.”
The tree was donated this year by Son Ranch Timber Co., and the city provided a sleeve in the ground to place the tree safely. The board is planning to plant two trees in the future for the Christmas event so that they will not be cutting trees each year.
Nathorst said that the board is hoping to use the lot for a number of future community events and activities.
“This is the kick-off in the new lot the city leased this summer. From that we’re going to go to farmer’s markets, and we’re going to do a spring / early summer barbeque to raise some funds for the board so we can buy some trees and beautify the lot,” said Nathorst.
For Greenwood, all the beautification that is seen along the highway has been paid for by the local business owners.
“It’s not like other cities, everyone buys their own here. The city doesn’t provide us with flower baskets, each business pitches in their own. The beautification project is very much driven by the businesses.”
The board of trade is run by volunteers from local businesses and has been very active in the last year. “We have a good group and we’re hoping to carry on attracting businesses and people to Greenwood,” Nathorst explained. “The big thing is to get people to stop here. That’s why we did the beautification last year and we want to carry on with that next year.”
