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Downtown Warsaw will look more festive for the holidays this year since the city got some new decorations - donated.
Hanging garland and wreaths across eight intersections is expected to be completed by the end of next week, said Carol Huffer, executive officer of the Kosciusko County Builders' Association.
Huffer, who organized the committee that raised money for the displays, said the decorations were purchased with money donated by local industry, downtown businesses and individuals.
Nearly $20,000 was raised for the Christmas decorations, she said, in a project that began last March.
"It took us all summer and fall to raise the money," she said.
Funding for the new decorations can be credited to the work of a committee composed of members of downtown business, industry and city government. "Our goal was to get the showiest and the least expensive," she said.
The project has been a major learning experience for everyone involved, Huffer said.
Some local industries sponsored the cost of an entire intersection's worth of decorations, while others bought a part of an intersection or simply made a donation, Huffer said.
Trish Brown, of the Warsaw Community Development Corp., said NIPSCO had to move electrical lines to make room for the displays. Huffer said not all intersections in downtown Warsaw will have the decorations because some intersections don't have poles to hang them from.
The committee decided to buy decorations locally, Brown said, from a Pierceton business that specializes in Christmas displays. For the past several years the city's Christmas decorations were leased.
The fund that financed the holiday displays will stay in place so the decorations can be expanded in the future, Brown said.
"It's very exciting," said Huffer. "Now maybe we can get some tradition started where Warsaw will be a beautifully lit Christmas town."
