Marksville will have no 'Haunted House' for Halloween

"Trick-or-Treat" stations will be set up downtown, council says

 

   There will be no “Haunted House” at Marksville City Hall this year, but the fall holiday will be observed in other ways, the City Council decided at its Sept. 14 meeting.
   Mayor John Lemoine brought up the issue at the meeting, saying that circumstances this year just don’t allow the large number of volunteer hours needed to put on the traditional Halloween event.
   Several of the key volunteers are still dealing with helping family members in flood-ravaged South Louisiana.
   “We will have something for the children,” Lemoine said. “I don’t want it said that this was the mayor and council that didn’t have Halloween for the children.”
   “Kind of like the Grinch that stole Halloween,” Councilman Frank Havard joked.
   Details will be worked out later, but Lemoine said there will be trick-or-treat candy stations set up around the Courthouse Square, possibly in the Atrium area. Businesses will be invited to set up tables and participate or to make a donation to go towards the treats for the youngsters.
   “There will be a Haunted House next year, for sure,” Lemoine said.
   In another matter, the council endorsed the idea of eliminating angled parking between Ogden and Cappel streets on Main Street.
   “They cause a bottleneck,”  Havard said. “There is not a lot of parking needed on Main Street now that the front entrance to the courthouse is closed.”
   Under this plan, there will be parallel parking on both sides of the street, which still creates a somewhat tight squeeze when a large vehicle comes downtown. However, it does eliminate the dangerous situation of cars backing into traffic on Main Street.
    Because Main Street is also La. Hwy 115, the city will have to present the plan to the state Department of Transportation and Development for final approval.
   The council noted that approving the reduction of parking spaces does not necessarily mean the city has abandoned the possibility of making Main Street and Washington Street one-way from Tunica to the “Y” intersection north of City Hall.
    Councilmen said if the parking changes don’t remedy traffic problems downtown, the city can move forward with developing plans for the one-way streets.