There will be no music show to accompany the Christmas lights in Ocean Park this year, as a combination of budget issues and high costs have prompted Oak Bluffs to scale back and refocus its typical cornucopia of holiday decorations.

Traditionally, the town of Oak Bluffs welcomes the holiday season with ornamentation and lights that stretch from Circuit avenue to the harbor. The decorations include a light show in Ocean Park that can be accompanied by car radio music, and a Christmas tree that gets floated into Sunset Lake.

But in an email to the Gazette last week, parks department commissioner Antone Lima said cost estimates for decorations and a set of replacement lights came in higher than expected, prompting the town to make tough decisions about how to focus their Christmas decorations.

While the labor contractor, town and highway department will still decorate Ocean Park, the lights in Ocean Park will not be rigged to dance to car radio music, according to labor contractor Mark Crossland. Mr. Crossland also said that he would not be floating a tree into Sunset Lake.

“We will only be decorating Ocean Park, the whiskey tubs and Farland Square as our budget has been cut by a third this year,” Mr. Crossland wrote in a text message to the Gazette.

Mr. Lima said that the labor estimate for decorations was $19,642, with an additional $9,705 to purchase new lights. The amount was high enough that it would have prompted a lengthy bidding process by state law, which could have delayed work until past the Christmas deadline. Instead, the town worked with Mr. Crossland to adjust the budget so it came in under the amount that would have triggered a procurement process.

He said the parks commission is working to better organize funds for holiday decorations in the future.

“In the coming budget cycle, the parks commission hopes to make a designated line item to cover holiday decorations and work with town leadership and the community to develop park lighting specifications,” Mr. Lima wrote.

Still, Oak Bluffs this December will be substantially dressed up in lights and festive pine and fir branches. Mr. Lima said that while Crossland Landscape will focus primarily on the Ocean Park lights display, highway department staff will likely handle decorations in Healey Square and along Circuit avenue.

The town also plans to reinvent the Healey Square tree lighting on Nov. 26, as the Oak Bluffs Association plans a full day of events including appearances by Santa and hay rides all culminating in a simultaneous lighting of the tree and the Ocean Park display.

“Trying to create a Christmas in Oak Bluffs is a yearly thing,” Mr. Crossland said.

He added that he’s disappointed there will be no dancing lights, but said he will work hard to beautify the town for the holidays.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I want to do the whole thing, but it is what it is.”