By: Rylie Birdwell
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department finalizes the almost 500,000 LED lights that will be on display at the downtown square.
Keith Delozier, a crew member who puts up the lights, said that there is a lot of work that goes into setting up these lights.
“It takes 12 guys to put up the lights. We have eleven guys working this year, and it takes 6 weeks to do it and after New Years, it takes two weeks to take it down,” said Delozier.
Delozier said they began putting up the lights on Oct. 11 and on average they spend around 2000 hours putting up the lights.
“We hand wrap some of them (the trees), the ones we take pride in. Mine is the big one right in front of Cheers. I spent about two weeks just on that tree alone,” said Delozier.
Cost:
According to the City of Fayetteville’s 2021 Proposed Annual Budget and Work Program, the budget for Lights of the Ozark’s is $23,000.
Byron Humphry, the Fayetteville Park Maintenance Superintendent, said the $23,000 includes money for the lift rentals and supplies.
The city pairs with Experience Fayetteville to help support this budget. Humphry said Experience Fayetteville donates around $15,000 to help replace or purchase new lights each year.
“We get about 3-4 years use out of a strand of lights and we replace a third to a fourth of them every year,” said Humphry.
Humphry said the cost of utilities increases by $3,000 during the lights to cover electricity bills and this is funded through sales tax and through a ‘hotel/motel’ fund through the city that donates a penny to the parks anytime you go out to eat.
According to Humphry, the pandemic did not have a significant impact on the lighting installation or the budget for the city for the lights since they still lit up the square and had to pay the men that put it all up.
“We spent around $90,000 on labor because it takes about 6 weeks to put those lights up. So we have 15-20 guys up there, it adds up pretty quick,” said Humphry.
Humphry said the total amount of hours that go into putting up and taking down the lights is roughly 3,000 hours.
Humphry said the total amount of hours that go into putting up and taking down the lights is roughly 3,000 hours. He also said that every day during the set up and the display, a crew goes out at 7 in the morning to check all of the lights.
How it affects local business’:
John Schmuecker, owner of Tiny Tim’s Pizza and West Mountain Brewing Co, said that Lights of the Ozark’s helps their business every year.
“Business picks up. It almost doubles down for us, —” said Schmuecker.
Schmuecker said that this trend of doubling business happens every year because they are one of the only restaurants on the square.
“I can’t imagine who benefits from this more than we do because at 9 o’cock we are the only thing still going on down here,” said Schmuecher.
During the Lights of the Ozarks, Schmuecker said that they try to fit all of the business that they lost into the 40 days of the lights. This means lots of preparation.
“It takes twice the amount of people, twice the amount of people on the shift, and it’s 40 days long, —” said Schmuecker.
Tiny Tim’s Pizza and West Mountain Brewing Co. closed Nov. 15 to decorate and prepare for Lights of the Ozarks.
Venders and the Parade:
The square will have the lighting ceremony Nov. 19th at 6 p.m. The ceremony includes a parade, food, vendors, the lighting of the square and visits with Santa.
The vendor fee for the entire season is $600 or $100 per weekend.
The parade route has changed this year, meaning possible road closures and traffic delays.
According to the Experience Fayetteville website, the parade will begin on Block Ave. and will head south on Block Ave. towards the downtown square. It will turn east on Mountain St. passing in front of the Fayetteville Town Center. Then head north on East Ave. and ending just past Graduate Fayetteville.
Chloe Bell, the community engagement manager for Experience Fayetteville, said that anyone is welcome to join the parade each year.
“We get local clubs like rugby clubs, Girl Scouts, local churches, candidates for office, news organizations, and families,” said Bell.
Bell also said that Mayor Jordan leads the parade every year after flipping the switch to kick off the ceremony.
The cost to enter a float in the Lighting Night Parade is $30.
The lights can be viewed from 5pm to 1 am every night and will be on display until Jan. 1st.