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This Thursday at 5pm, Osceola Chamber Main Street (OCMS) will be flipping the switch on a new ornamental lighting installation, just in time for the holidays. Special guest, Santa Claus will be on hand to help with the inaugural lighting surrounding Osceola’s courtyard. The chamber is hoping for a huge turnout for the event, along with community and business leadership, they’re looking to have a full, excited courtyard gathering friends, families and local businesses together to celebrate the holidays and the new courtyard lighting.
The new lighting comes as part of a 25th anniversary celebration initiative by Osceola Chamber Main Street board and its members. The initiatives not only focus on 25 years of successful Osceola business promotion, education, and community involvement, but also include future planning for business attractions, enhancements and community engagement.
“For the 25th Anniversary celebration, the board decided they would like to light up the square,” said Ashleigh Eckels, OCMS Executive Director. “This is just the first phase of a multi-stage approach to add lighting to the square, Osceola’s business corridor including the depot.”
The Chamber is working with lighting consultants, Lighthouse Design, to work up proposals for lighting solutions around the area. The courtyard is in the initial phase of the lighting plan. Additional areas being considered for lighting upgrades include LED lighting for the bandstand and bell tower as well as lighting to highlight the Veteran’s memorial on the courtyard. Future lighting stages will consider the streetscape updates surrounding the square, down-lighting around the depot and more.
While the Chamber had hoped to get the lighting installed by the Holiday Brilliance event held on November 27th, delays in materials as well as some upgrade options pushed their schedule to this week.
One exciting feature of the initial courtyard phase of the lighting project includes the ability to change out the light colors based on the season or celebration. Christmas will have white, red, and green lighting, where Fall events like Halloween and Thanksgiving can have orange and yellow. Fourth of July will obviously shine in red, white and blue brilliance.
Multiple bids for the lighting projects have been submitted, but partial funding for this stage of the project was received through a $20,000.00 Rural Enrichment matching grant from the State of Iowa. Future project funding will also be driven by grant opportunities as well as member donations and community support.
“Osceola Chamber Main Street is so honored to receive this grant from The State of Iowa,” said Eckels. “The funding gave us the power to really kick off these lighting projects in style.”
The “Light Up Osceola” event takes place this Thursday, December 15th at 5pm. Along with Santa and the lighting event will be the local Cops For Christmas gift giveaways and free ham giveaways. As an added bonus, retailers around the square will be holding their Stocking Stuffer event from 5pm to 8pm, so stick around for a full, fun evening on the Osceola Square.