VIDALIA — It may be Halloween, but it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

For the past two weeks, decorations usually associated with Advent have been creeping up utility poles, and the Vidalia Christmas tree is now standing with its lights strung.

Earlier this week, workers began moving the mechanical box displays of seasonal scenes on the riverfront.

The lights will likely be turned on next week, Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

That is because the U.S. 84-El Camino Corridor convention will be coming into town, and he wants them to be welcomed with the sight of the lights, Copeland said.

“We’re going to turn them on early this year,” he said.

But for lights to be lit early, that meant that the utilities department had to begin even earlier — not only to have things in place, but to make sure everything works properly while not neglecting regular duties.

“We have a lot of decorations to put up,” Vidalia Utilities Department Director Mark Morace said. “Last week we started putting up the pole decorations because we might get pulled off it and have to do something else.”