THE alleged theft of festive decorations erected throughout the Beechworth CBD for the Christmas period has been labelled “soul destroying”, in the wake of positive praise for the initiative from within the community. Coordinated by Beechworth Inc, Ford and Camp streets have been awash with red and green since the beginning of December, with a host of new decorations and volunteer-driven displays on show, including an installation in the centre of the town’s major roundabout. Despite being widely lauded by many members of the public, Beechworth Inc president Katrina Witherow said the initiative had been hamstrung by a series of alleged thefts and instances of vandalism. A light display established in the “hero tree” of the Beechworth Town Hall Gardens was said to have been vandalised at least twice. “We spend all these volunteer hours putting things up so that people can enjoy it and then some people just come along and think they have the right to take our hard work and the work that volunteers have done,” she said. “The yarn bombing was taken off the bollards around the centre of the roundabout and some of the Christmas presents we did up in the centre were taken. “All of our ladies knitted profusely to get the decorations put on the bollards, there was a whole group of us who did it and were really excited, and the feedback we got was unbelievable and the support from the community was fantastic. “It’s such a disappointment that we’ve got people in our community who don’t understand the hard work that volunteers put in.” Bolstered by $50,000 in funding courtesy of Indigo Shire Council, Community Bank Beechworth and District (Bendigo Bank), Billson’s Brewery and Bridge Road Brewers, as well as the tireless work of volunteers in the area, Ms Witherow said the decorations would remain on show until later this month. “It’s been a fantastic project and this is only the beginning – we hope to build from this and more projects will come along,” she said. “We’ve got great support and we’ve got a fantastic committee which is really passionate about doing things which can help our business sector and our community. “There have been a lot of businesses come and go (in Beechworth), and long-standing businesses have closed their doors, so we’re trying to band together to see how we can continue on and trying to be positive and get things going for the town.”
