The priority of this letter is in fact to offer an apology to the Parksville Downtown Business Association. I came down pretty hard on them for their “Christmas spirit” and would like to commend them for their efforts this year and I look forward to further improvements for 2016.
It’s a tough job convincing local residents to shop local with Nanaimo so close by with its big box stores and then there is the Internet, which allows you to shop at home. So, congratulations for hanging in there all of you and thanks for your efforts to brighten up Christmas.
I still wish the city itself would get a bit more involved with putting up decorations in the fashion that apparently they used to do. Long-time residents claim that our main road through town used to be decorated so those decorations must still be stored somewhere and I would be happy to volunteer to help put them up next year.
The information building at the south entrance would be an incredible place to light up, along with Heritage Park. What a “Welcome to Parksville” opportunity, lots of smaller trees to illuminate. I firmly believe that this is the one time of the year that a city can really put on that proverbial “happy face,” and now I feel confident that each year will see an improvement.
A small suggestion might be for the entire PDBA to get together and buy in bulk for next Christmas — Is that even possible?
Now that the New Year is under way I want to wish you a very prosperous 2016 but most of all a healthy one.
Ron StuartParksville