Mayor Charles Mizell put out a call asking local residents and business owners to put their Christmas lights and decorations up in advance of the lighting of the millions of white and colored lights on the hundreds of displays in Christmas in the Park on Thanksgiving night.

Many complied, yet the idea of the city looking like a veritable living Christmas village under the trumpeting angels hung on the streetlights has yet to be fully realized.

The city leaders are not giving up on the idea of making Bogalusa a place for people to tour before or after they take in the splendor of Cassidy Park.

Christmas in the Park has only just begun, and people throughout town can still be spotted stringing colored lights and erecting Santas, reindeer, snowmen and manger scenes.

As the weekend approaches, residents and business owners are reminded that Bogalusa is the “Magic City,” and that there’s no better time to display the magic than at Christmas.