On the front page of the Sunday edition a story was titled, “Riverfront aglow with Christmas once again.” There was a statement made that was inaccurate, and since I believe it is important for a newspaper to report the news or a story accurately, I would like to help set the record straight.

The statement in question states, “The sets on display once belonged to International Paper in the 1950s and 1960s, and have since been restored by the City of Vidalia to display along the riverfront.” That is incorrect.

Not a single display in Vidalia is original. The City of Vidalia did not “restore” any one of them, as they are all built anew. I know, because I was the principal coordinator and designer that first year. Some of the displays, those being the two snowmen that open and close the exhibit, the snow slope, the elf workshop, the kitchen, the two jalopy scenes, the old water mill, the blizzard scene and the manger scene were all recreated by me from pictures of original once that once saw service at the paper mill. All other scenes were all created by adapting illustrations from books.

The City of Natchez does have some original displays, which did see service at the paper mill, mostly during the resurgence during the late 80s. Most of the ones that Natchez has are in deplorable shape, due to neglect and rough handling. Quite a few are signed on the back by Lanus Hammack, the genius who originally designed them and was the primary artists at the mill for practically the whole run.

In summary, Vidalia has some nice recreations and some new ones, but none of them saw service at the old paper mill. Natchez has a few originals that did see service at the mill, but are not in too good shape at this time.

I still hope that someday the City of Natchez would want to start this again in its quest for a holiday extravaganza.

Burnley Cook

Natchez resident