63° CLOUDY, Light Up Ocala will be a little dimmer this year
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 11:08 a.m.
OCALA - Ocala spokesman Sonny Allen says Light Up Ocala will still be beautiful this year. It just won't be as bright.
WHEN: 2-8:30 p.m. Saturday. Also, visits with Santa at 2-3 p.m. and 6-7 p.m., the Junior Sunshine Christmas Parade at 4 p.m. and the annual lighting ceremony at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Ocala Downtown Square.
FEATURING: Food and craft vendors, children's activities, and musical entertainment, including Norman Lee Schaffer, One Flite Up, Old Skool, the Circus Band, Tammy Murray, Roger Greinier and Jeanne Lowrey, and the Kazoobie Kazoo Show with Rick Hubbard
FOR MORE INFORMATION: 368-5550.
Source: City of Ocala
There will be fewer Christmas lights – about 75,000 fewer to be exact - illuminating the area around Ocala's downtown square during the holiday season. Allen said the reduction is aimed at cutting extra labor hours and overall power usage.
"Usually we put up about 300,000 lights, and it's a very labor-intensive project," Allen said. "It will look about the same on the square, but we are cutting back a few canopies on the side streets."
The scaling back comes on the heels of complaints the city received about the recent hike in utility rates, Allen said. In August, OEU rates were the highest among the 15 area utilities that buy energy from the Florida Municipal Power Association. Those rates fell in October and again in November.
"We know that some customers are having to cut back their energy usage," Allen said. "We needed to do what we could to cut back, too."
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November 19, 2008 11:41:42 am
RE: Link
I say good! The rest of us have to cut back dramatically so why shouldn't they!
November 19, 2008 11:58:04 am
The sad thing is that there is so many other things that they could have cut back on. Hopefully this is not the only work in progress. Oh my, they might actually put forth more of an effort this year to satisfy the mass mob of angry citizens they have enraged. I guess that entails actually working and focusing on where the money is being distributed rather then spending it without a train of thought behind it.
November 20, 2008 12:08:39 pm
Well, I don't know about others, but we have cut back and our utility bill went UP!!!
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