Winter Lights On the Greenway
Moonlight Globes in the Wharf District Parks
The Greenway’s Winter Lights program runs throughout the winter months from December through March.
Our budget for Winter Lights displays and artist-driven events (running from December through March) is spread across the 1.5 miles of Greenway. We have planned three artist events for 2012/2013 in addition to a selection of Greenway features that are lit, including:
– Light poles wrapped in Chinatown Park
– Trees lit in Chinatown Park
– Fountain stream and waterfall lit in Chinatown park
Fountain & Waterfall at the Chinatown Park
– Trees lit in Dewey Square Park
– Red Stick / Blue Stick installation in Fort Point Channel Parks.
– Light Poles wrapped in Urban Arboretum, near Wharf District Parks.
– Café Lights on Light Poles at Rowe’s Wharf Plaza, Wharf District Parks.
– Moonlight Globes in garden beds, Wharf District Parks.
– Trees lit, site of future Carousel, Wharf District Parks.
Trees lit, site of future carousel park, Wharf District.
– Elm tree lit in North End Parks.
– Lighted Disco Balls on the Pergolas at North End Parks.
Disco Balls at North End Parks
The lighting displays are installed by our staff or by professional arborists. Volunteers assisted staff with light installation at Chinatown Fountain and in painting and installing the Red Stick / Blue Sticks at Fort Point Channel Parks. Funds for the lighting and artist events came from several donors this year, including Integrated Design Group, Bob and Doris Gordon, and NES Rentals.
The lighted disco ball assembly and installation took more time (and more than one attempt) than we expected. For the past two seasons, solar powered ornaments were hung from the Pergola. Last year, these began to fail and yellow, so we looked for a new option while working with the original Greenway lighting consultant Adam Kibbe. We found a very effective solution of disco balls installed inside clear plastic domes, lit by new LED spotlights, creating a snowflake display on the path below. After delays in delivery, we installed them just before Christmas, having made a number of retrofits to the clamps and pins holding the assemblies together.
Snowflake pattern from the disco balls and LED lights at the North End.
In a strong wind storm on December 21st, several were damaged and we removed the rest to avoid any further problems. After some upgrades, the mirror balls were re-installed on Thursday, January 3rd. They will be on display through March. Two remaining mirror balls will be installed as soon as replacement clear plastic domes are received.
Below is a short YouTube movie showing the snowflake pattern that is displayed on the path below.