Christmas cheer might go dark in Georgina this year

Strings of street lights may not be blinking bright red and green in time for the holiday season

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 29, 2019
Amanda Perscio

Looks like the Grinch might steal Christmas after all.

Over the summer, the Town of Georgina voted to spend close to $70,000 on new LED holiday decorations that mount to existing light poles.

It wasn’t until a recent site visit that town staff were notified the existing electrical hookups weren't up to code and wouldn't work with the new LED decorations, sending staff into a festive frenzy.

There are 54 light poles in town that require new conduits and breaker boxes, costing about $30,000 --or $550 per pole.

Despite the town’s efforts and spending about $100,000 on new festive LED lights and electrical upgrades, the new stars or snowflakes may not happen in time for this holiday season.

“The town is doing their best,” said Greg Forrest, acting chairperson of the Sutton BIA. “Merchants can augment the lack of lights with their own decorations.”

But not having the town’s various downtown streets lit up for the holidays has many thinking that it will be a blue Christmas after all.

“This is disappointing,” said Steve Jacobson, chairperson for the Jackson’s Point BIA. “Last year was pretty bad. And now to have nothing is sad. This is typical of the town. They had the whole year to plan.”

The town’s old decorations weren’t up to snuff to begin with, said Garry Harpley of the Pefferlaw Association of Ratepayers.

“The old decorations were garbage and falling apart,” he said. “I’d rather see nothing than what the town put up there. This is unbelievable.”

Something is better than nothing. As an alternative to the LED decorations, decorative holiday banners with wreaths will adorn the downtown lamp posts as well as be placed along the new Santa Claus parade route, on Woodbine Avenue and Dalton Road.

“The spirit of the season will still be there, even if the Christmas lights will not be,” said Forrest.

Harpley is still waiting for the work to be completed on the Pefferlaw fire hall --where a large, permanent tree was to be part of the building landscaping that would have been a feature of the annual tree lighting ceremony in Pefferlaw.

Not having Christmas lights in Pefferlaw isn’t new, said Coun. Dave Harding.

“We’ve known about the hydro poles for three years now,” he said during a council meeting. “Pefferlaw has been out of power for decorations since that time. We’re known as the Grinch of Georgina.”

There is also a plan to map the retrofitted poles and LED decoration locations for future maintenance and upkeep.

In 2018, the town was awarded close to $70,000 under the Ontario Main Street Revitalization for the Georgina Streetscape Design project, which has been delayed.

The Main Street revitalization funds come with a March 2020 expiration date, so council opted to use the funds to replace the existing deteriorating decorations.

New LED decorations cost between $700 to $1,000 each. Split evenly, the ‘downtown’ areas --Keswick, Sutton, Jackson’s Point and Pefferlaw --could receive between 12 and 17 LED decorations each.

There was even talk among councillors about using solar-powered lights.

But given the climate, solar lights are not an option --there’s not enough light during the November and December days to feed the lights.

“If there are a few dull days or no sunshine, the lights maybe or may not be there,” said Mayor Margaret Quirk, referring to the solar lights placed at the Stephen Leacock Theatre.

“The biggest problem is not having a big box of batteries to store up power,” said Harding, who experimented with solar lights last year on his property.

“If there are a couple days of no sunlight, there are no lights on the trees,” he said.