St. Catharines Downtown Association

Downtown St. Catharines has been decked out in shiny retro holiday spirit with new Christmas decorations to replace faux poinsettia baskets of years gone by.

The golden stars and tinsel pole wraps, at a cost of $40,000, started showing up on three city streets over the past week.

They were paid for by the St. Catharines Downtown Association through its business improvement area levy.

"It was definitely something the merchants wanted and we didn't want to leave anyone out so we did the entire length of St. Paul Street," said Tisha Polocko, general manager of the association.

A large wreath will be hung at 136 St. Paul St. by the walkway to the lower level parking lot.

The sprinkling of new decor is leading up to the major holiday shopping season, which left merchants with lower sales last year because of the poor economy. Polocko said they realize it's not going to be "outstanding" this year either.

"Obviously, we want to be optimistic and hopefully it will be a little better. Hopefully when consumers are looking for a unique gift they'll come here," she said, adding downtown merchants have items not found in malls and box stores.

The downtown is also home to several special holiday events, including the Santa Claus parade and horse-drawn carriage rides.

The association is hopeful the new Christmas decorations, chosen by the association's board, will get people in the shopping mood.

Baskets of faux red poinsettias, which hung from lampposts throughout the core since 2003, had seen better days.

"We had them refurbished once but the lifespan had passed," Polocko said.

The association wanted decorations that could span the whole street, despite some older lampposts, and found the tinsel pole wraps and lighted stars from a Mississauga company fit the bill.

The stars look identical but are slightly larger on the bigger concrete poles. "We were able to do that and have a nice even flow," Polocko said.

The decorations are on St. Paul, Queen and James streets. Polocko said the association hopes to add King and Court streets in the future as cost permits.

The association has had 20 trees along the street strung with vibrant white LED lights, from 1 St. Paul Street west past Carlisle Street, at an additional expense.

Please see article in The St. Catharines Standard by K. Walters at:

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2172489