Dec 23, 2002 By Todd Spangler Associated Press Writer 4 min read

GREENVILLE, Pa. (AP) – The residents here have had precious little to cheer about the past year, with the community budget in tatters, a scandal rocking a local fraternity and the borough’s water service suffering a series of mishaps. But at least downtown is decorated for Christmas.

It may seem a small point, that folks in this borough of 6,380 managed to get a handful of wreaths spread through the business district, but last Christmas they didn’t even have that. The decorations were in disrepair and Greenville didn’t pay to fix them.

This year, a group of volunteers calling itself the Greenville Area Preservation Association refused another season of downtown looking so bare, so it raised some money – a spaghetti dinner was very helpful – and refurbished as many wreaths as it could.

The decorations went up early this month and people are saying that – at last – something positive has happened again in Greenville.

“When you don’t have any kind of decoration, it’s kind of depressing. This is kind of uplifting, in a small kind of way,” said Betsy Hildebrand, spokeswoman for Thiel College in the borough.

“It’s huge,” said David Henderson, a member of borough council. “They have donated their time. That’s what we need, people who are willing to participate.”

Pretty much everyone agrees the situation has been grim in this borough known for making rail cars until the plant shut down a few years ago.

Blaming fiscal mismanagement, officials in the borough about 70 miles northwest of Pittsburgh applied to the state this year for help in closing a deficit which has been estimated at $1.7 million – more than $266 for each resident.

Greenville was declared “distressed” by the state, a move which freed up a $660,000 loan, but also required a plan for getting the borough back on its feet. There are calls now for nearly doubling the income tax, freezing wages, and cutting or reorganizing services.

The problems don’t stop there.

A pump broke down at the municipal water system and couldn’t immediately be replaced. For two weeks in November, residents were advised to boil what water was being pumped from the Little Shenango River, just to make sure it was safe.

Then, in December, a fraternity at Thiel lost its standing at the college when officials said members had signed out a couple of vans and used them to transport people to an off-campus party. Phi Theta Phi lost its recognition just days before a charity event its members had been organizing annually for decades.

“It’s been a challenging year,” said Doug Riley, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. “It seems like an endless journey.”

Which is maybe why the wreaths have been a comfort of sorts.

Last winter, when the financial problems were coming to light, people were upset, said Lorrie Smith, who helped organize the volunteers. Then, when there were no decorations downtown during Christmas, it made it seem even worse, “like a physical manifestation” of the problem, she said.

Smith and others wondered what they could do. This fall, they had a piece of wood cut in the shape of a moose made, and struck up a “Name the Moose” contest. People seemed to like it, and donated money. (Eventually, the moose got a name: “Unity.”)

Then, there was the spaghetti dinner, which was such a hit the organizers ran out of food.

Smith says the group raised about $2,500 – enough to buy some supplies to fix up the 18 4-foot-wide wreaths deemed useable. Volunteers from the fire department did work wiring new white lights to the wreaths, which were installed on utility poles in the three-block downtown.

Businesses joined in, too, decorating their storefronts.

The volunteers also raised enough to buy 3-foot-high trees, placed on the sidewalks, just to spruce up downtown.

“People seem very, very pleased. “They’re just so happy to have decorations,” said Smith. “We knew people really, really wanted the lights.”

Greenville residents walking through the tiny downtown have been seen to smile, to laugh. Some see it as a sort of turning point, a spark of morale the borough desperately needed.

“It is a much better atmosphere now,” said Riley.