CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A car crashed into a power pole closing a stretch of Independence Boulevard in east Charlotte for several hours Wednesday night and forcing an early closing for the first night of the Southern Christmas Show.

The car slammed into the pole about 5:30 p.m. near Briar Creek Road and across from The Park (formerly called the Charlotte Merchandise Mart) where the Southern Christmas Show had just opened.

Police were afraid power lines might fall onto Independence Boulevard, so they closed a section of the six-lane road while utility crews repaired the pole.

Duke Energy called organizers of the Christmas Show and said it needed to shut off the power to make repairs.

"When Duke called and said 'We're turning the power off,' we asked them to give us a little time to get folks out of the building, which they let us do," show organizer David Zimmerman said.

Christmas Show officials said attendance was off dramatically for the first night of its annual run because Independence had been closed.

Crews had the road re-opened around 8:30 p.m.