A Mount Vernon holiday display specialist is suing a business in the boondocks for allegedly failing to pay for a $45,000 Christmas tree last year.
Universal Statues claims that TLS Entertainment, the operator of Boondocks Adventure Farm in Nakina, North Carolina, still owes $32,500 on a 28-foot tower tree shipped to the amusement park in November 2022.
Universal Statues sells holiday statuary and greenery, such as six-and-a-half-foot gingerbread men and Santas and snowmen and elves. It is affiliated with American Christmas Inc. and MK Illumination, Mount Vernon companies also known for lavish Christmas creations.
Boondocks Adventure Farm is tucked into rural southeast North Carolina near the South Carolina border. It’s Christmas in the Boondocks pageant features bright lights, live music, rides, and playgrounds.
Last year Boondocks agreed to pay $45,000 for a Christmas tree. It made the $12,500 down payment, according to the complaint, but failed to pay the $32,500 balance due last December 31.
This past August, Boondocks executive James Anthony Long pledged in an email to pay the debt. He had been unable to do so because of low attendance at the last event, his email stated. But now he was preparing for two events with proven records of successful ticket sales: the Halloween season’s Panic Attack Haunted Attraction and the Boondocks Fall Festival.
He asked for the opportunity to pay off the 2022 Christmas tree by Oct. 31 and “to salvage our relationship with Universal Statues.”
Despite the promise, Universal Statues claims, the bill has not been paid.
Universal Statues accused Boondocks of breach of contract and demanded the $32,500 balance, plus interest.
Long also is named as a defendant, for personally guaranteeing the payment.
Long acknowledged an email request for his side of the story. He offered no responses to the allegations but stated, “We are currently in the process of handling this.”
