Holiday Lights of Livingston is a community-based organization working to preserve the holiday decoration tradition in downtown Livingston.
“Currently, we have four rehabbed vintage intersection lights in storage that need new poles,” says Holiday Lights committee chairman Joel Reinholz.
Reinholz and others discovered the large iconic candelabras in the basement of the former JC Penny on Second Street. After refurbishing the four large decorative pieces, which Reinholz estimates to be around 40 years old, they were once again installed at downtown intersections for the past five years.
Due to engineering problems with the height of the supporting poles, the decorations were not hung last year. Holiday Lights hopes to return the classic decorations to their original glory with a wealth of structural improvements to mirror the coming infrastructure improvements planned for the downtown area.
In addition to the large intersection decorations, Holiday Lights has 49 rehabbed snowflake decorations, 35 were rehabbed and hung this year on one pole each.
After the planned downtown infrastructure improvements, there will be approximately 160 new poles in the downtown area. Holiday Lights plans to install traditional decorations during the annual holiday season throughout downtown while the infrastructure project is undergoing completion.
“If we go with the current plans we will have 40 new street lights on Park Street between Fifth and B next year after the state redoes Park Street. Our goal is to build new holiday lights for the new lights. We do this working with the high school and FFA and we may try to include the art and drafting classes in design and conception also.”
Reinholz says they hope to raise enough money to keep up with the downtown infrastructure project as it is getting done, a projected period of the next five to ten years.
“We would also like to put at least one of the intersection lights back up with new taller poles during the downtown project,” says Reinholz, “This will take new engineered poles with a considerable cost to get them to legal DOT (Department of Transportation) heights.”
Holiday Lights is supported solely by volunteer efforts and contributions from the community. A recent fund-raiser brought in enough to get the existing holiday lights up for the 2009 season, but each year will bring a new set of funding challenges.
For more information about Holiday Lights of Livingston, or to make a donation, call 220-5635. Donations may also be mailed to Holiday Lights, 628 Meadowlark Lane, Livingston, MT 59047.
—Reilly Neill
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