Ventura Company Makes Singing Christmas Tree That Has Much Of The World Talking
VENTURA (CBSLA.com) — An animatronic company in Ventura makes a tree that has a lot of the world talking.
The unnamed tree -- how about Woody? -- talks, sings, dances. For $25,000 it probably should.
The city leader of small Nova Scotia town (about 21,000 residents) spent the $25,000 of taxpayers money and residents were not happy. To put it mildly, they were angry at Brad Johns.
At first. Local stores saw sales rise and kids were dazzled by the display.
CBS2's Jasmine Viel reported, "It's a safe bet that no one has a Christmas tree like this at home."
"We thought what a great idea to bring back a talking Christmas tree," said Johns.
A few phone calls, $25,000 and two months later -- this one-of-a-kind animated Christmas tree was created and shipped out.
The tree almost did not make it through customs. And it had trouble passing muster with the locals.
On social media -- one woman said the money could have been put to much better use.
"I think the initial shock, people saw it as a one time shot of $ 25,000 and they didn't realize the life expectancy of the tree is probably 10 years," says Johns.
"I was freaking out, because when we send stuff out out stuff we get just rave reviews," says Steve Axtell about his animatronics.
When the town turned the tree's lights on this week it earned those rave reviews and attracted big crowds who filled local shops and the spirit of giving was evident with an overflow number of donations at the food bank.
"Kids love it," says Johns, "I mean, there are a lot of children who don't have an opportunity to go to places like Disney World or Disneyland."
Next year, Lower Sackville is looking to add more characters to its Christmas show, like an elf, to create their own Disneyland of sorts.
A dream come true for Steve who continues to push the limits of his imagination to make others smile, even 3,000 miles away.
