05:50 PM CST on Friday, December 2, 2005

Associated Press

METAIRIE, La. -- The outcry was so intense after a suburban mall removed a Christmas display of a miniature hurricane-ravaged town that the exhibit is going back up.

Chuck Burton / Associated Press

The display in Lakeside Mall was complete with spray-painted refrigerators, blue-tarped homes and MREs.

Frank Evans, who designed the tiny blue-tarped roofs and little toppled fences, said he will have them reinstalled for the weekend at the mall's request.

Some of the satire will be toned down a bit. Evans said mall management didn't want doorways marked with big orange X's indicating the building was searched for bodies, and Evans readily agreed.

"I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings," Evans said.

Evans said the removal Tuesday prompted hundreds of e-mails of support for the display, compared to 10 complaints. The mall's marketing manager Tricia Thriffiley said she personally received more than 500 e-mails.

Thriffiley confirmed the mall is allowing Evans to put up the display, and it will include a bulletin board with comments from both sides, so people can judge the arguments for themselves.

"I want people to enjoy it," Evans said. "I don't want any more controversy."

Evans, a landscape architect from nearby Gretna, has been building Christmas displays for 13 years. He said he always adds what he calls "cartoons" for the adults -- humorous tidbits that frequently have political barbs.

This year's setup, a full 60 feet long with blue-roofed houses, pumping stations and tiny piles of hurricane debris, is circled by a miniature train that children ride after sitting in Santa's lap. It was installed in mid-November and was ordered removed Tuesday.

This year, he said, hurricane victims could relate to it.

"People were kind of desperate, down in the dumps," he said. "They looked at it and said, 'That's me; we've got to get on with it; John Wayne is not going to come bail us out."'

Rita Mayhorn, whose daughter's home in Slidell was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, said she was grateful the mall decided to bring back the display. "It's part of our life right now. We're all living under blue roofs, even me."

Cousins Holly Verrett and Amy Blanchard were disappointed when they drove from Houma Friday to see the exhibit only to find it had been taken down and was not yet back up.

"I can't believe they did that," Blanchard said. "We need that kind of spirit. It shows that people will actually have Christmas with blue on the roof."