Congrats Finneys of C-town on winning ABC's, 'The Great Christmas Light Fight'

I couldn't believe it, but was so happy for him & his family; they truly are very deserving. They definitely aren't well off, but sacrifice a lot & work very hard on it each year. I've been going to his display, for so long, it's just become a part of Christmas for my family, as well as most in Crossett & pretty much all of SEARK. Even those like myself & my family who no longer live there, make it a point to go back & see it at least once a season. I recognized most of the displays in the video clip. The one with the snowmen going up & over the cliff in the video is one of the displays from the first year. It's great to see the new things each season, but funny because the old ones are very comforting. A few years, a couple of the displays weren't put out because they were being repaired or re-lit or re-painted, and we all freaked out, wondering where they were!!! ... You should take a trip down this season & bring your kids; they'd love it!! They keep it lit through the first, I believe.

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I've always wanted to try Craig's bbq. That's along the way somewhere right?

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No, Craigs is straight east of LR almost halfway to Memphis, and Crossett is way down near the border of Louisiana.

You can pick some up on the way to the Liberty Bowl!

You are definitely directional challenged.

Who down voted the OP?

I miss holiday lights like this. Dallas just doesn't get into it at all. The best we have are the 1 million shopping centers lit up.


Congrats to this family. How fun!

Saw it and heard about it too, have you heard or seen anything, today?

Tbh, there isn't a lot left of C-town anymore either since Koch bought out Georgia-Pacific. It's declined so badly in the past 20 years, it's barely recognizable to me. It was a very cool little town growing up, being only an hour north of Monroe & west of Greenville, MS, with the Quachita River running through it, and Lake Chicot just to the east, one county over. It was a rather well-off little town with plenty of water activities, community pride, good schools, good athletics, school spirit, etc., and if you didn't know of it & hadn't seen it for yourself 20-30 yrs. ago, you'd think I was lying through my teeth. Literally a handful of people my family knows are still there; and zero of my friends I went to high school with are still there. Its population continues to decline each year, and honestly, I wouldn't let a child of mine attend the public schools there. It hurts my heart. ... Seriously, there are no decent local restaurants anymore which is a shame considering Tommy's Catfish Shack (literally) served the best fried catfish I've ever eaten, and have never had any as good since anywhere in the country. The Millwhistle used to serve really good steaks, prime rib, shrimp, gourmet burgers, etc., but it no longer exists, PLUS, it was a private restaurant/club, so it had a liquor license (Crossett is in Ashley Co., which is dry, at least on paper ) & was the only place to get a cocktail with dinner besides the country club, which is laughable now. ... HOWEVER, C-town is home of the brother of John Huntsman, the founder & owner of Johnny's Pizza, SO, Crossett has Johnny's at least!!! Lolol ... It's really great pizza, definitely the best chain because it doesn't taste like chain pizza; truly tastes homemade. Also, a little known fact except to locals is that Crossett has THE BEST footlong hot dog, ever, and it is sold at a little privately owned dive of a grocery store, about the size of a large convenience store, called The Minute Shop. It's one of those places that always smells great bc turkeys & hams are smoked to order, as well as other meat preparation. No lie, I've never been to a visitation at the home of someone who's died, or to the the family's home after a wake, or to any holiday party at a home or office where meat & cheese trays from The Minute Shop were not served - including my own family. Lol ... So, this place has got a footlong chili dog, made with extra finely ground beef & pork that's not like traditional coarsely ground chili meat in chunks, and it's not soupy like chili; it's more like finely ground meat for tacos, but with chili seasonings & some kind of sauce, but not too much so that it's dripping. As a matter of fact, it doesn't drip at all, but still has tons of flavor. They are purely delicious & I swear, I've met people from other states who traveled to Crossett on business who actually knew of this footlong hot dog, and one guy begged the owner to give him the recipe, but of course, he was unsuccessful - probably because no one really wants to know what's in it. Hahaha. The store is old & not the cleanest place in the world. ... Which reminds me, Crossett does have some obligatory gross Mexican place I've attempted to dine in once, & will pass in the future, as well as some Oriental or Asian "cuisine" eatery, which from what I understand, serves frozen spring roll thingys which are sold at Target or Walmart as one of its "delicacies" & the good folks of C-town think they're eating authentic sushi. Lulz ... First of all, I don't do sushi; the closest I get to it is tuna served rare, but if I was going to eat sushi, it damn sure would not be in Crossett. ... So, if you want to dine in Crossett, definitely go to Johnny's for pizza, The Minute Shop for a footlong chili dog, or Andy's for a decent ham & cheese sammich, burger, or GREAT biscuits & sausage gravy for breakfast. There's also a Waffle House, I think, & some other chain crap, but I'm trying to give you the local flavor. Lolol ... I'd suggest going east about an hour to Greenville, MS to the original Doe's, or south to Monroe, LA to Cotton, Sage, The Warehouse, or my personal favorite, The Mohawk - best oysters ever, including Nola, but everything there is exceptional including the atmosphere - like you stepped back in time to the '40s & '50s. Seriously, they've got much of the original decor in the original building from the 30s or 40s when it opened. ... Y'all definitely should go down to Crossett to see the Finney's display, get a footlong hotdog, then go on over to Doe's in G'ville & Mohawk in Monroe!!! It'll be an adventure!!! Hahahaha !!! If y'all really go, let me know when, & I might be able to meet you in Crossett!!

Sorry for the book; I was attempting to hit all the highlights. ... Oh, that reminds me, be sure to BYOB!!! Everything is dry southward past Pine Bluff!!!! (At least if you don't know the bootlegger, & mine probly isn't living anymore. HA!! )

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PygmalionEffect

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Bet they get a few more visitors going forward

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HA!! From what I hear, they've been getting a steady stream of out-of-towners for about a week now. I have no idea what the C-town restaurants are gonna do. They're all mostly fast food, but I doubt the service is going to be very prompt at all. They're not equipped to be this busy in the Winter; only during the Summer for baseball tourneys do they get very busy on a consistent basis - oh, & the rodeo. Johnny's Pizza will be ok since they're trained well, but Minute Shop staff better get on those footlong chili dogs.

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Congrats to them I watched most of their segment but left for camp before winner was announced.

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I think everyone was pretty shocked, and were just happy for Mr. Finney that he was even in the competition that far. His display is truly awesome, but everyone in Crossett is just used to seeing it every season, so we already know it's great, but kind of new to be acknowledged for it nationally. I know that the Monroe & El Dorado stations, KNOE 8 & KTVE 10, used to cover it pretty regularly, but I don't think LR's KATV 7 has barely touched it over the years until now, not sure about the other LR stations. ... That's not unusual, tho. We used to joke that we belonged more to NELA than Arky, & that if we ever got blown off the map by a tornado, LR wouldn't know a thing about it, ... which actually sort of happened, to a degree, in January of '88 or '89, I think, when North Crossett did get a rather large tornado, destroying the large vo-tech campus, the little airstrip & some planes, several businesses, and a great many homes, vehicles, barns, stables, etc., as well as damaged the elementary school out there. My mom worked for an insurance company at the time, & I was still home from college before the Spring semester, so I went with her out to the scene to survey damage of her clients' properties, & it was pretty bad. Actually, it's very fortunate no one was killed bc it hit at app. 6:00 a.m., injuring a few hundred people, sucking the roofs off of houses & people out of their beds, dropping them in the hwy. & roads. (I knew a young couple this happened to. Miraculously, they weren't killed, but were pretty badly injured - broken bones, some bad gashes & severe concussions. Both still suffer lingering physical effects.) Many people had to be rescued from under flattened buildings, houses, & vehicles, many horses in stables were killed, etc. I saw some pretty messed up & bizarre stuff. And just like we'd always said, LR acted like they didn't know too much about it & only briefly mentioned it that evening, not even sending down a crew until 48 hrs. later - CBS Evening News covered it that night, since it was the first tornado of the year & so early in the year, with aerial copter video footage, interviews, & everything.

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Nationwide contest so really impressive that someone from little ole Crossett would win

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Yes, it is!!! Yaayyyy C-town & Finney family!!! ... although Crossett has been nationally recognized before, a few times, on national television. The first time that I remember as a very young child was on a TV show called Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and was also in reference to lights, but in this case, only one light - "The Crossett Light" - which has been a legit mystery & subject of the "science vs. supernatural" debate since the beginnings of Crossett & The Crossett Company when Crossett was still a "company town" way before Georgia Pacific ever came into the picture. But that's a whole other story, albeit a very interesting one, especially on exactly how company towns were set up, how they worked, & their infrastructures. ... Anyway, this mystery light & debate about exactly what the hell it was/is, isn't only of interest to locals or even to nationally renowned scientists, but to the international scientific community, as well!!!! No one to this day can say with any certainty what it is or why it is there, but it IS there. I SEENT IT ... TWICE!!! Lol, of course, that would be twice out of about a million times looking for it, then getting distracted by the stopping & arguing over who was getting out to get a round of beers from the ice chest in the bed of the truck. I'm not afraid to admit I'm complete chicken shite about that light - or about being in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black dark more than a little buzzed wondering what nut might be out there in the woods. Either way, IT'S SCARY!!! ... So, a word of advice when going to see the Crossett Light - since you must travel way out in the sticks, down incredibly dark, wooded back roads where old train tracks used to be, and you're gonna more than likely be sipping on a few cold ones just because it's more fun that way, MAKE SURE YOU BRING A COFFEE CAN w/LID!!!! ...

... Yeah, but I didn't want you to skip anything.

Good stuff Piggy! Fellow former Eagle here as well.
Went to the Finney's last night, hour and twenty minute wait, but well worth it. Mr Finney was out and about taking pics beside the trophy when we were there. Cops are on the scene directing traffic and at 11:00 they block off the entrance and send anyone still in line home, so go early enough to make sure you get in. We got in line at about 9:05 and were one of the last to get in FYI