The heavy rain that pelted Woodburn slowly began to dissipate as a few dozen people huddled in the city’s downtown plaza Dec. 6 for its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
High school students sang carols and onlookers sipped hot cocoa from nearby Café La Onda, one of several businesses adjacent to the plaza that caters to the city’s majority Latino community.
But the evening’s festivities were short-lived. The storm knocked out electricity to the plaza, and city officials weren’t able to flip the switch on the Christmas tree lights. The warm glow everyone expected never materialized, and the small crowd of people looking for a holiday pick-me-up quickly scattered…