City of Kaukauna Encourages Community Members to Vote on New Holiday Decorations
The City of Kaukauna is celebrating Christmas in July this summer as they work to select new holiday decoration options. The City is looking to retire the 30+ year old decorations and upgrade to LED (energy-efficient) decorations that will shine more brightly and stay up for a longer time period. Full size samples of snowflake pole decorations are on display on a portion of Main Avenue (adjacent to Eagle Plaza and Pizza Hut) for the month of July.
The proposed pole decorations and colorful holiday banners offer a daytime (colorful banners) and nighttime (bright, white snowflakes) experience for residents and visitors to the community. Snowflakes were proposed as a pole decoration option to double the time period when they can be on display from the current December- the first week of January timeframe (approximately 5 weeks) to a 10-week timeframe (December – Valentine’s Day). The holiday banners would be on display for the 5-week timeframe in keeping with the Christmas season.
Community members can vote for their favorite holiday decorations online at www.cityofkaukauna.com/lightupvote OR can vote in person in the lobby of the Municipal Services Building through the month of July. Residents of all ages are encouraged to participate and select their favorites. The top (3) snowflake designs and the top (1) banner design will be ordered in the first quarter of 2020, after the current inventory of holiday decorations are formally retired in January 2020. The banners are not hung on the poles at this time, but images of the banners are available at the voting station in the Municipal Services Building lobby and online.
The full cost of replacing the holiday decorations is approximately $17,000 ($15,500 for the pole decorations and $1,500 for the banners). The City has preserved some of the current inventory of holiday decorations for over 30 years and hopes to see at least 20 years of use for the new pole decorations. Banners are subject to greater wear and tear from the elements and the City hopes to see 10 years of use for them. Over the estimated lifespan of the decorations, each snowflake pole decoration will cost the City approximately $13 per year, and each banner will cost approximately $5 per year, plus necessary electricity for lighting and labor costs to hang up and take down the decorations.
Decorations are being sourced from a highly rated, cost-competitive Midwest manufacturer and are proudly made here in the United States.
More information can be found on the holiday decoration campaign online at www.cityofkaukauna.com/lightup.