No Holiday Decorating Budget? No Problem for One Illinois Town

OK, so the economy sucks. But that hasn't lessened the holiday glow for folks in Batavia.

On the contrary, residents and business owners in this Illinois suburb have embraced the spirit of the season and banded together to decorate the downtown for Christmas when budget cuts meant the municipality couldn't do it for them, as had always been the case in the past.

"It's the heart of Batavia," downtown business owner Katrina Roitburd told the Chicago Tribune. "I just feel like it's important to make it as special as it can be."

Roitburd says her store, Katrina's Salon and Spa, will display white lights in all nine of its front windows. Other businesses will hang garlands or feature a lighted Christmas tree out front.

What's more, residents have donated dozens of strands of lights and groups ranging from the National Honor Society to the local Cub Scouts have volunteered to help make the town more festive.

"Batavia responds to causes," said Britta McKenna, executive director of Batavia MainStreet, which is organizing a grass-roots effort to keep the downtown streets decorated this holiday season.

McKenna said she had no doubt the town would rise to the challenge after Batavia suffered a nearly $700,000 budget shortfall this year and needed to cut back on expenses like holiday decorations. McKenna recalled how the townspeople admirably gathered together nearly every Saturday for eight years in the 1990s to build a downtown Riverwalk, or the time in 2004 when a drive to help victims of the Asian tsunami garnered wide support.

"That's who we are," said McKenna. "You can be upset when there's something that impacts you, or you can actually roll up your sleeves and say 'What can we do to make it better?'"

Kudos to the residents of Batavia for rolling up their sleeves and making the town a more festive place this holiday season.

Photo courtesy of cahdequech via stock.xchang.