Downtown Poplar Bluff’s annual Christmas decorating contest was marred by a spate of vandalism, but that did not stop one business from winning.
Employees of downtown businesses reported the decorations on several light poles were stolen or destroyed within a couple of weeks this December. The poles were decorated as part of a contest by River Radio.
Grateful Headz owner Cody Harris said within days of the Downtown Christmas Parade, a handmade sign and other decorations were missing from their spot on Vine and Fifth.
“We had a cut-out of plywood that looked like our logo, but it was Christmas decor. It was lit up, and then it had a Christmas ornament above it. The whole thing was gone,” Harris said.
To make matters worse, the sign had been made as a gift.
On the other end of Vine Street, Dapper & Divine Salon set up a stuffed Grinch in a Santa suit, a pair of decorative shears and a bucket full of small toiletries and free samples. It was the salon’s first year participating, according to owner Amanda Smith, and staff expected some mischief. After the blankets stuffing the Grinch were stolen twice, they re-stuffed it with plastic bags. Then the cardboard shears were ripped up. The entire bucket of freebies vanished. Finally, the Grinch was found in pieces on Dec. 8.
“When we just finally took it down, they (had) just destroyed it. They threw his head off, they threw his shoes off, they threw his little dog, his hat,” Smith said. Pieces of his costume were found from the courthouse to Haffy’s Sports Bar & Grill. “They just destroyed him, it looked like someone stuck a bomb in him and blew him up.”
Smith contacted the nearby Butler County Courthouse, SATOP office and Haffy’s to see if they had security camera footage, without success. Between the gift items and decorations, “we invested a lot of money in it,” she lamented.
“We’re hairstylists, so we like to get into doing that kind of stuff. We’re always doing something extra. It just sucks that it didn’t even get to stay out the whole time, though,” Smith said.
Mina Wheelis of Southern Care & Comfort remembered no vandalism from last year’s competition. This year she had to replace a string of lights that were cut shortly after the Grinch was destroyed. The following weekend, someone popped the office’s inflatable Santa by stabbing it in the head.
Southern Care & Comfort’s display was just down the street from Dapper & Divine’s pole, and Wheelis was frustrated seeing the destruction of two entries back-to-back.
“Everybody takes their money and their time to help with beefing up downtown, trying to make it look decent and festive, and then we have these thugs that want to come through and just destroy everything,” she said.
The Poplar Bluff Police Department stated no reports had been filed on the vandalism
But in a twist worthy of Dr. Seuss’ original Grinch, nothing stopped Christmas from coming. Tuesday, River Radio declared Dapper & Divine Salon this year’s winner.
“Our hearts are very full,” Smith said. “It was definitely a deserving win.”
The salon and Grateful Headz both plan to participate again next year, with precautions. Harris will screw his signage directly to the pole as he did in previous years, and Smith plans to choose a different location.