1. PRESS RELEASE
Neighbors invite visitors to be part of their “Wonderful Life”
West Memphis, AR, December 1, 2011: For another Christmas season, the neighbors
of Worthington Park are drawing together and inviting visitors in for a peak with the
city’s annual holiday celebration and carriage rides, themed “It’s a Wonderful Life in
West Memphis.”
The city park and its neighborhood are decked for the season, ready for the annual
carriage tours which continue this Friday and Saturday and each weekend through
Dec. 17, Dec. 9-10 and 16-17.
“This neighborhood is close knit,” said Ross Street resident Jim Fiveash. “We live in a
time warp, something out of the 50s, and we share it with everyone at Christmas.”
His Worthington Street neighbor Sherry Sanders agrees.
“It’s so nice,” said Sanders of the coterie of families who join together each year,
lighting their homes and trees, filling their yards with Santas and angels, all to bring
yuletide joy to carriage and car riders alike. “Even the new neighbors help keep the
excitement going as they get into the decorating.”
.
The event is sponsored and produced by the West Memphis Advertising &
Promotion Commission.
The A&P director went door to door that first year asking each family for help in
decorating for the carriage tours.
“I remember that very first year,” he said, “I walked out of my house and saw two
neighbors hauling an extension ladder across the street, calling out to another,
‘Hold on! We’re coming to help.’ They looked like a bunch of elves.”
Sanders said she and her husband Paul Sanders create the elaborate display at
their Worthington home each year for their joy of the community’s children.
“They’re all wanting to see what we put up each year, the kids from Bragg School
(where she works in the computer lab), all the neighborhood kids, the Boys Club,”
Contact: Leigh Ann Kennedy Sarah Beth Christian
Phone: 870/ 514-0556 870/732-7598
E-mail: leighann.kennedy@gmail.com schristian@citywm.com
WEST MEMPHIS ADVERTISING &
PROMOTION COMMISSION

2. she said. “I told Paul, ‘We can’t let those babies down.’ I love to see the excitement
in their faces.”
The Sanders also like to create a photo opportunity for riders and pedestrians alike –
a display with an arbor and a character Sherry calls “Mr. Peepers,” his binoculars
out, looking for Christmas.
“If I see a family walking through the park, I go over and encourage them to come
over and make pictures.”
At the carriage depot, housed outside the former Moka’s, waiting riders are kept
warm with hot cocoa and s’mores beside the outdoor fire, tended each year by
Fiveash.
“I’m the guy out doing the s’mores,” said Fiveash, whom Christian and the other
neighbors have nicknamed, “Fire Marshal Bill” for his efforts.
Yet for these efforts, Fiveash said he has received as much holiday joy as he has
given. “Every year there’s some kind of magnificent incident.”
One year it was an engagement.
“A guy proposed to his girlfriend,” said Fiveash. “We had the carriage go to her
house and pick her up.”
Another time, he witnessed a woman exit her carriage in tears of joy, overcome by
the nostalgic Christmas displays.
“A German couple said it looked as beautiful as one of their festivals.”
When a local shelter for battered women brought their residents for carriage rides
and karaoke, the ladies were enjoying themselves so much, “we didn’t close the
karaoke until they were ready to leave,” he said.
“Visiting this neighborhood at Christmas brings out those old-fashioned, down home
feelings of love and the reason we celebrate Christmas,” said Fiveash. “Love
permeates it all.”

3. Carriages can accommodate up to 6 average size adults for the 20 minute
tours. Cost is $40 per carriage.
For more information on Christmas events in West Memphis or to make a carriage
reservation, call the event line at 870-514-6340. Information is also available at
www.westmemphis.org.
This event is sponsored by the West Memphis Advertising & Promotion Commission
with support from Mayor Bill Johnson and the West Memphis Utility Department.
Other contributing city departments include Parks Department, Street and
Sanitation Department, Purchasing and Finance, Police Department and Fire
Department.
Southland Park Gaming and Racing and Pancho’s are Signature Sponsors. Other
sponsors include Fidelity National Bank, First Community Bank of Eastern Arkansas,
Ford of West Memphis and Papa John’s Pizza of West Memphis.
Cutlines – Photos by West Memphis A&P
Neighbors-1 - The annual carriage tours through Worthington Park and the
adjacent neighborhood continue this Friday and Saturday and each weekend
through Dec. 17, Dec. 9-10 and 16-17.
Neighbors-2 - Ross Street resident Jim Fiveash said of his neighborhood, “We live in a
time warp, something out of the 50s, and we share it with everyone at Christmas.”
Neighbors-3 – Each year, the Worthington Park neighbors work to bring yuletide joy
to carriage and car riders alike.