ERATH, LA – With budget cuts heavily hitting the town of Erath in the past year, this year’s Christmas tree was a, uh, little underwhelming to say the least.
City officials had hoped to have a couple hundred dollars left in the coffers by this time in the fiscal year, however due to various factors and probably some overspending here and there, there was only $11.86 left in the account as of a week ago today.
With the annual Lighting of the Christmas Tree scheduled for this evening, there was a race against time to find a viable alternative. Luckily, some large cardboard sheets were found behind Champagne’s Supermarket from a recent delivery and with help from a number of folk in the community, a tree was managed to be constructed using the material.
The leftover funds were used to purchase various colors of paint and sharpies to color in the tree, meaning technically there was no lighting of the tree since there were actually no lights on it. But officials urged the public to just use their imagination.
There was also a small chance that the town janitor would shine his torch on the tree for somewhat of a dramatic effect, but that didn’t materialize as a deal to borrow three AA batteries from neighboring town Abbeville could not be struck in time.
Residents and out-of-town viewers (on the off chance that anyone was willing to travel to Erath) were urged to get there as soon as possible for the 6pm lighting, so that they could get the whole thing over with as soon as possible.
The event was over by 6:10pm, and everyone was in bed by 6:30pm.