Tiny community rebuilds its holiday season on the ghost of a lost bridge

Christmas lights will once again brighten holiday nights in Joppa, despite the loss of its historic iron-truss bridge to the Fourth of July weekend flood this summer. The Burnet County community will string lights where the bridge once stood and host a Joppa Christmas Village celebration at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14.

“We are planning a hayride, hot cocoa and cider, and Christmas caroling,” said Toni Schmid, who is working with the newly formed nonprofit Joppa Community Association to continue the town’s holiday traditions. “We are going to decorate like crazy.”

The Joppa Bridge opened in 1907, facilitating easier access for farmers and ranchers to lucrative agricultural markets. It was granted a Texas historical m

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