By Peggy Mackenzie
The town of Lewisburg will soon take on the glow of an old fashioned Christmas this year, according to Lewisburg in Bloom Committee member Shannon Beatty at the city council meeting Tuesday night. Lewisburg in Bloom has taken on the sponsorship of the decorations for the downtown historic district.
The lamp posts will be decorated with double wreaths of boxwood and bows, and the dated period look will also feature flickering electric candles in the windows above the storefronts and a few on Court Street and Lafayette Street.
Additionally, an Old Fashioned Christmas-themed window decoration contest has generated the participation of 17 shop entrants, Beatty said, which should bring plenty of local citizenry out and about to gawk and admire.
On Saturday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m., the holiday season will be formally kicked off with a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Green Space, also sponsored by Lewisburg in Bloom, and will include performances by the John Wesley Choir and the Carnegie Children’s Choir. Hot chocolate and cookies will be served at the gathering.
Beatty informed the council that, in the hands of the Lewisburg in Bloom Committee, the budget for the town decorations this year has been pared down, saving the city several hundred dollars.
In other business:
• Mayor John Manchester announced the names of two appointees to city boards and commissions: Jason Long was approved to serve on the Building Commission to a four-year term and Philip McLaughlin, Sr. was approved to complete council member Josh Baldwin’s vacated term on the Greenbrier County Library Board of Directors to end on June 30, 2016.
• Manchester reported a meeting has been scheduled with West Virginia Land Trust, a statewide nonprofit, with which the city has recently partnered, to organize a plan of work for source water protection. That meeting will be on Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Paul R. Cooley Council Chambers at City Hall.
• A legal glitch between Mosaic Power and the power grid has put a temporary hold on any construction plans for solar panels on the public works building until an appeal is settled, according to Dan Conant, founder of Solar Holler, the mayor said.
• Zoning Officer Chuck Smith stated, in a report from the Planning Commission, that Walmart intends to place a new 16-pump gas fueling station in the parking lot of the store next to Arby’s on the site of a previous gas station. The commission made several changes to the site plan, Smith said.
• In council member Mark Etten’s Finance Commission report, the Lewisburg Police Department was given authorization to apply for a Department of Justice bullet-proof vest grant. The vests have a life of five years and must be replaced.
• Public Works Director Mark Carver said the city is prepared for the winter season with plenty of salt stored for snow-covered roads.
