Common Council Approves Installation Of Edison-Style Lightbulb Strands On College Avenue – Appleton Downtown Inc Still Working On Logistics

The Common Council met 09/07/2022. One of the items separated out for an individual vote was the request from Appleton Downtown Inc to be allowed to hang Edison style lightbulbs across some of the intersections of downtown College Avenue on the lines from which Christmas decorations are hung. The Council ended up voting 14-0 to approve the item.

This request had been recommended for approval by the Municipal Services Committee with the understanding that certain safety tests still had to take place which might impact how or if the project was ultimately carried out.

Jennifer Stephany, the Executive Director of ADI, spoke to the Council and told them the ADI had been working with the Department of Public Works on how this project could be accomplished. They hoped it would be feasible. They now knew what the requirements were and had some work to do to meet those requirements but were making good progress.

Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) wanted to recognize the efforts of ADI and its partners to bring back this iconic imagery and mentioned a famous postcard of arched lights across College Avenue. Any effort to recreate that vision and bring back that memory was commendable.

[I don’t know if this is the postcard he was referring to, but it is a post card of arched lights over College Avenue which I found on the Wisconsin Project blog.]

The Great White Way (image found on The Wisconsin Project blog https://wisconsinproject.blogspot.com/2013/12/found-great-white-way-appleton-wi.html)

Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) thought this project was a great idea and said several businesses on College Avenue had reached out to her last year and asked if the city would consider doing something like this. She loved that they were trying to make it happen, and she hoped that it would work.

There was no further discussion, and the Common Council voted 14-0 to approve the request.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=980230&GUID=A68655DD-0AE0-4A8B-BE13-E07B25B9CB6C

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