When Byron’s Woolworths put out the decorations for Christmas it gets me thinking.
Woolworths was about the only retail site that decorated for the festive season in the last few years.
Historically there were big banners greeting visitors hung over Shirley Street, the clock was decorated and retail shops went to an effort to decorate and spread good cheer. Where are they?
Driving through other towns over the festive season and seeing the effort they go to, the children’s faces light up at the lights and all the decorations are terrific. It’s a time of the year of being together, wishing joy, peace, goodwill to all humankind in its diversity.
I approached Council to ask when they were putting up the decorations pre-Covid and was told the Chamber of Commerce do the Christmas decorations in Byron Bay.
Christmas is about commerce too; a healthy trade in town is good for our livelihoods. Why not encourage locals to shop in the Bay, where retailers go to an effort to decorate their windows and shops?
We are such a multilayered community. Can we come together and help infuse the town with a visual Christmas cheer and a sense of community for our families here and our visitors?
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
