Downtown Hannibal taking on holiday look

Downtown Hannibal is starting to take on a holiday look. Friday morning, members of the Hannibal Parks and Recreation Department could be seen installing a large light display next to the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau on Mark Twain Avenue.
“My goal was to get all this stuff done before we took off for Thanksgiving next week, so we’re a little bit ahead of schedule,” said Chris Atkinson, director of the parks department. “Unfortunately it’s been pretty cold out.”
In addition to the display next to the HCVB, parks department workers will also be installing approximately 10 displays in Central Park. They have already installed lighted wreaths in the “Cardiff Hill Overlook” area, where the approach to the old Mark Twain Memorial Bridge used to be located. According to Atkinson, parks department personnel will be teaming with members of the Board of Public Works to hang wreaths along Main Street and Broadway next week.
The lighted wreaths in the “Cardiff Hill Overlook” were purchased by the parks department a few years ago. Does the parks department intend to purchase more holiday lights in the future?
“I’ll be honest, they’re really, really expensive,” said Atkinson. “They’re really nice, but they’re only used for approximately a month and we have to store them for the other 11 months. We’re always looking for ways to add to our parks, but that’s not something we’re looking to do at this point.”
The parks department is responsible for storing all the city’s Christmas lights.
“We keep some in the bandstand in Central Park. We keep quite a lot of them up in Riverview Park right now,” said Atkinson. “We have a hard time storing all the lights right now so until we can come up with a solution to our storage issue we really can’t add to how many we have.”
A few years ago a formal ceremony was staged to accompany the turning on of the holiday lights in Central Park. That no longer is the case.
“We’ve scaled it back. Now we just switch on the lights and go without making too big of an issue about it,” said Atkinson. “We’ll probably turn them on Wednesday evening so they’re on over Thanksgiving.”