IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE

STORY & PHOTO BY BREANNA MANLEY

There’s nothing quite like Dadeville during the holiday season. With the Dadeville Beautification Board in charge of the Christmas decorating again this year, the city could be the destination for residents to enjoy the season. “We’ve been doing it for several years now. I’ve been involved with the beautification board for over 40 years from the time it started in the ’80s, and we used to decorate years ago,” explained Mickey Forbus, beautification board president. “When the original beautification board kind of aged out, we lost the enthusiasm for it, but having started back again in 2019, we’ve done several projects. The Christmas decorating is probably one of our bigger projects, probably the biggest.”

The decorations, mostly located on the Dadeville Square, include wreaths, garland and the community Christmas tree, which will go up right out in front of the Tallapoosa County courthouse on Broadnax.

This go-around, the beautification board saw volunteers from all across the area, including Jackson’s Gap and even a few out-of-towners who were once part of the community and have since returned to help with the decorations.

On Nov. 1, beautification board members and volunteers took to the downtown square in the first phase of decorating. Lampposts and sidewalk railings at the local businesses on the square were strung with long strands of garland and red ribbons. Along with wreaths displayed at the top of the lampposts, some of the garland sports twinkling

lights to add even more to the festive spirit. The community tree will be put up at a later date, and it will be lit the afternoon of Nov. 27, just before the lights are turned on for the annual holiday display at Pennington Park down the hill on Spring Street. “I think we have close to 900 to 1,000 linear feet of garland we put up on the square. It takes a lot of zip tying,” said Forbus’ wife, Elaine, who also serves on the beautification board. Beautification board members hope to improve the annual displays with additions to the decorations, and the City of Dadeville has donated to the endeavor in the past. With more and more decorations coming year after year, the square lights up even more. This year, one of the newest additions to the decorations are stick trees lit with LED lights. “The first year that we put the decorations up, they weren’t as impressive as the second year. The next year, we added more garland. People think it’s like a Hallmark Christmas. The square is really looking good anyway because of all the activity downtown, but it’s different around Christmas,” Elaine said. The decorations will remain up throughout the month of December and will be taken down sometime in January. Be mindful when driving through the square of volunteers decorating alongside the streets. “It’s a pretty good little program, and we really enjoy it. Everybody who’s involved really enjoys it. I think we’ve gotten a lot of good comments from the city and the surrounding areas from people who saw it Making Dadeville Beautiful Volunteers strung some 1,000 feet of garland around the courthouse square in preparation for holiday events in and enjoyed the lights,” Forbus said. Mark your calendars for a fun-filled day in Dadeville on Nov. 27 and witness both the lighting of the community Christmas tree by the beautification board and the lighting downtown Dadeville. ceremony at Pennington Park.