Wrangell’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony has been postponed due to bad weather and ongoing efforts by the city’s electrical department to keep power running, according to the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Dec. 3, the chamber announced that the annual tradition was being pushed back, potentially to Dec. 11. However, the post went on to say that Midnight Madness is still moving forward tomorrow evening, Dec. 4. Many businesses will still be open late for shopping and sales.
“As I am sure many of you have noticed, there is no Christmas tree up downtown,” the Facebook post reads. “Due to the storm and power situation, the Christmas tree is NOT able to go up by this Friday, so the Tree Lighting Ceremony will be postponed.”
Rod Rhoades, Wrangell Municipal Light & Power, director, confirmed that the tree lighting ceremony was being postponed. Poor weather has kept his department from getting the tree in the first place, he said, and they have been very busy responding to power outages caused by the storm.
“We just have not been able to harvest the tree,” he said. “The storm damage took all of our opportunities away.”
Rhoades said they were looking at harvesting the Christmas tree early next week, but that was only a tentative plan. He also reported, as of 1:15 p.m., power had largely been restored to all Wrangell. There were some households still without power due to secondary issues, he said, but they would be working to address those.
Reader Comments(0)