‘It couldn’t happen at a worse time’: Leavenworth fights to salvage Christmastown season

Amid severe flooding and windstorms, the normally flourishing Christmastown in Leavenworth has gone dark. The stretch of US 2 between Skykomish and Leavenworth has been closed since Wednesday.

Leavenworth Mayor Carl Florea told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio the town depends on holiday tourism, with many shops generating 40% of their sales in December.

“It couldn’t happen at a worse time, but we don’t get to decide these things — that’s Mother Nature,” Carl said. “Unfortunately, I think what we’re seeing is some of the impacts of climate change and that warming trend that brings everything in rain instead of snow.”

He emphasized that this is a crucial time for the community.

“It’s really important for our retail establishments, it’s when people do a lot of their buying, a lot of their shopping, and a lot of that we’re dependent on. Our economy is a tourism economy,” Carl said.

“It is a critical time for us. It would be devastating to have this happen again, but you have to play the cards you’re dealt, and it’s not up to us in these situations, but we try to respond as best we can,” he added.

Cleanup underway as Leavenworth pushes toward reopening

Carl noted the community is doing its best to clean up the area, but it’s going to take some time.

“Almost every street had trees across it and down here. And that’s another thing, the wind that came with that rain, that’s what really made it bad,” he said.

Carl pointed out the town couldn’t host anyone as it was without power for three days. But now that power has been restored, recovery efforts have begun.

“Things are up and running. We’re doing the cleanup. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to still welcome guests again. Not over Highway 2. They’d have to come over Blewett,” he explained. “But we’re hoping that that’ll be the case. It is raining again, and there is more wind in the forecast. So it’s really going to be a day-to-day thing, whether we can maintain and keep this, but we’ll do everything we can to facilitate being able to welcome people.”

All Christmastown events were cancelled last weekend, including the Village of Lights display and Gazebo events. City Administrator Matthew Selby told “Gee and Ursula” the town appreciated having space to clean up debris and give residents room to breathe.

“We’re hoping that we don’t have the same amount of devastation with this incoming storm, and that we’ll be able to welcome all the guests from the west side this weekend,” he added.

Listen to the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.