Well, it seems Christmas lights are everywhere this time of the year, and we take them for granted. They actually started in Germany centuries back with candles attached to an evergreen tree. Martin Luther is credited with adding candles to a Christmas tree in his home after seeing twinkling lights in the sky.
Lights on a tree make it a Christmas tree, but while flickering candle flames are festive, they were also a fire hazard. It took Thomas Edison, who of course invented the light bulb, to bring Christmas tree lighting to where it is today.
In 1882, Edward Hibberd, an associate of Edison, saw an economic opportunity. Setting up a tree by the street-side window of his parlor, Johnson wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and strung them together around the tree, placed the tree's trunk on a revolving pedestal, and called a reporter who filed the following: "At the rear of the beautiful parlor, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect. The lights drew a crowd who stopped to peer at the glowing marvel."
A string of 16 vaguely flame-shaped bulbs sitting in brass sockets the size of shot glasses sold for a pricey $12 (about $350 in today's money) in 1900. But in 1894, President Cleveland put electric lights on the White House tree, and by 1914, a 16-foot string cost just $1.75. By the 1930s, Christmas lights were everywhere, and it all started with Johnson's miracle on 36th Street. (Source: December issue of the Smithsonian Magazine.).
That brings me to recount what I think is a remarkable Arkansas Christmas light story. It started in downtown El Dorado in the mid-1980s, efforts led a determined woman.
Let me give you some background about how the Central Business District looked before there were any significant Christmas lights in the city. In the early 1980's, El Dorado's downtown had just a small smattering of Christmas lights; actually, it was about as bare as you can imagine. None of our municipal buildings or our courthouse had any Christmas lights, and street light poles weren't decorated for Christmas. There were only a few minor Christmas lights on the retail shops.
Councilwoman Vertis Mason, after viewing several mid-south towns in East Texas with elaborate lighting displays of white lights on their courthouses, decided to try and get Christmas lights for our downtown courthouse and other buildings. She first tried to get the local Chamber of Commerce to help with the lighting request, but she was turned down.
"All of our budget is for recruiting jobs," she was told.
That might have stopped some folks, but not Vertis. That only made her more determined, and she went on to raise $20,000 for the initiative in one week. That successful fundraising kicked off a Christmas lighting drive, which ultimately was joined by the City of El Dorado, Union County, Main Street, the Chamber of Commerce and various merchants and property owners who banded together, and before the fundraising was finished, well over a $100,000 was raised.
However, instead of just stringing up lights, a national lighting display company was hired to come up with recommendations and lighting designs. Today, the lights you see on downtown buildings, the Courthouse, City Hall, the viaduct (or via-dock, as it's known locally) and in dozens of downtown buildings are there because of the recommendations and designs by this company. The red and green overall theme using C-9 bulbs are not any individual's preference. These colored bulbs are what was recommended.
When the lighting design company arrived in town, their first order of business was to point out that you must have a theme, and since the principal building in the downtown is the Courthouse, their comment was that it is too large for little white lights. To make it as Christmas-y as possible, and to get the best visual results, they recommend red and green large
C-9 bulbs, and they designed extra-large hangings of predominately red and green lighted displays for the Courthouse, City Hall and the Central Fire Station.
In addition, they encouraged the downtown property owners to add red and green C-9 bulbs strings to the tops of their
building, awnings and shop windows. The red and green theme was unanimously approved by the City, County, Chamber, Main Street and the Downtown Merchants Association.
Today, if anyone in the central business district needs bulbs or light strands they can contact Teresa, our lightbulb lady.
After the Christmas lighting design team finished with their work in the Central Business District, they encouraged the City to extend the red and green light theme down the primary entrance street in the city, West Avenue, by placing the lighted red and green garland lights on selected light poles. They also encouraged the strip shopping centers on the Avenue to add the red and green Christmas lights on their street light poles in the major shopping areas.
The company's initial design featured the large red and green lighted poinsettias on the via-dock.
As the Christmas red and green lighting caught on, all of the major property owners and businesses participated. Murphy Oil, Murphy USA, Potlatch-Deltic, First Financial Bank and Bancorp South led the group. Not only do all of the noted companies above have red and green lights to outline the roof of their buildings, most of them have added major rooftop displays.
Of course, an overall project such as this is never finished, but this year we have reached a milestone. Over 90% of our Courthouse Square has red and green lighting, and numerous individuals who live on streets connected to the downtown have added red and green lights to their lighting displays.
Of course, with this display of Christmas lights, you must have a lighting ceremony to mark the official turning on of El Dorado's holiday displays. On November 18, the Thursday before Thanksgiving week, several thousands gathered on the east side of the Courthouse for the ceremony, which featured dancers, choirs and flipping the switch, which turned on the
huge Courthouse lighting display. The "Mailman," Karl Malone flipped the switch and the Courthouse lights flashed on as everyone cheered. It started the holiday season with a dazzling Christmas lighting display.
The overall lighting display has been so successful that numerous additions to enhance the holiday spirit in the downtown have been added, and most observers consider the success of the lighting displays as a major step to make the other things happen.
Earlier in the fall, Main Street El Dorado added bluetooth speakers to downtown street light poles, which are
already wrapped in green and red lighted garland, and during the Holiday Season, these speakers are playing Christmas music
Main Street has also started painting street crosswalks with large colorful designs, and MAD has joined in with a full size replica of an oil derrick, and yes, it has red and green lighting. Another addition to the holiday lighting is on the edge of
downtown where the tallest lighted Christmas tree in the state is located. The TV tower is hung with strands of Christmas lights from the top of the tower.
You just can't get more Christmas-y than downtown El Dorado.
Richard Mason is an author and speaker. He can be reached at [email protected].