When people arrive in Vaiden, they are met with stunning fall decorations created by Vaiden’s Beautification Committee. It’s hard not to “ooh and ahh” over the strategically-placed fall decorations, and that’s what the committee wants people to do.
The committee placed hay bales painted with pumpkins and birdhouses by Misty Armstrong, along with scarecrows, pumpkins stacked in crates and mums.
Committee member Domonique Curry-McKinney said that Armstrong is also a member of the committee and has been a real asset to the team.
President Greta Purnell said the group had been collecting ideas and donations since their first meeting. “We started looking at other places for ideas,” she said. Purnell said one of the ideas came from crates she found at Walmart in Kosciusko.
Curry-McKinney said Purnell brought back the idea to the group and the group loved it. “We went from there,” she said.
Purnell said it took the group a day to come together and set up the display. “We meet on the fourth Monday in the month and during our September meeting, we set up half the display before the meeting, and some of us finished our display during the meeting.”
Purnell and Curry-McKinney said they’ve received a lot of compliments for the display.
“The community has gotten behind us, and they support us,” Curry-McKinney said.
They said the group wanted the display in place just in time for the Vaiden Heritage Festival, which will be held Oct. 20.
“That was our goal to do something for the festival and Christmas,” Purnell said. “We have a lot of talented people, and we work well together.”
Purnell said the group wanted to start small and then gradually grow. She said plans for Christmas are already in the works.
“We’re going to do something for the downtown area this year,” she said adding there are plans for the downtown park that will take place next Christmas season.
“I’m excited about the progress,” Curry-McKinney said. “We have a lot of great things in store.”
