By Taylor Lansford
It takes a lot of trucks, ladders and manpower to deck the halls and streets of Provo with holiday cheer. Workers with the Department of Parks and Recreation start spreading the joy before winter even hits, setting up all the seasonal decorations for the annual parade of lights and lights-on celebration.
“We usually start about mid October,” light supervisor Jonathan Baker said. “We are out here 40 hours a week, 10 hours a day.”
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Twinkle lights stay on the trees up and down center street all year long to make the work load easier. But to ensure they will work properly, lights get changed out every winter.
“We have a rotation basis, so everything that gets put in the trees for this year will stay for next year’s season” Bake said. “Everything that was in this year will get cut out in January.”
It takes about 75 strands of lights per tree to light up Center Street. That means there is more than a thousand colored bulbs on every tree. Lights, garland and other holiday decorations that will light up get plugged in to power sources underneath the roads. With that many lights, the work takes a lot of time and equipment.
“Especially with the lifts you have to keep adjusting it to get around the limbs,” said Ela Wolfgramm, who helps with the lights. “And its pretty time consuming, you can see how its wrapped up in the tree.The results are pretty amazing.”
The lights are a special tradition for downtown Provo and create a warm holiday atmosphere for the cities residents
“I love when the lights turn on because it makes me get into the Christmas Spirit and reminds me of good times with friends and family,” said Coral Pena, a Provo resident.
The lighting ceremony will be on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on Provo Center street.
