NC town flips the switch on light display

MCADENVILLE, N.C. -- A small North Carolina town near Charlotte has flipped the switch on its annual Christmas light display. Multiple media outlets reported that officials in McAdenville turned on their Christmas Town USA display at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Hundreds of buildings in the town just off Interstate 85 are decorated in displays that started in 1956. Mayor Farrell Buchannan says the display should bring in at least $500,000 from visitors for Gaston County. Phyllis Cherry manages the Village Restaurant on Main Street in McAdenville and says the visitors boost business at night. An estimated 300,000 cars, plus people on foot and in tour buses pass through the display, which runs from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 11 p.m. on weekends. The free display ends Dec. 26. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.