When it comes to the holidays, a suburban community’s civic pride might be measured in kilowatts.
From Arlington Heights to Naperville to Joliet, communities spend as little as a few hundred dollars to as much as $100,000 to light up their city halls, downtowns and parks.
Beginning around Thanksgiving and lasting through the new year, suburban communities express their joy for the holidays-and for their downtown shops’ wares-in varying degrees.
Some string lights bright enough to be seen at the North Pole and others, just to prove they’re not scrooges, hang a wreath or two.
In Arlington Heights, for example, 2,500 strings of white lights cover the trees downtown and at the edges of North School Park. Wreaths and fabric bows hang from downtown light poles and village buildings.
But the real charge comes in the form of colored lights on a 40-foot tree, a train and turning windmill of lights, a waving Santa in a chimney, a drumming drummer boy, and spinning wooden dreidels-all in North School Park.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” said Arlington Heights Village President Arlene Mulder. “According to what I hear from citizens, it gives them a great sense of pride about their community. It truly is a special sense of warmth.”
While those with smaller displays aren’t red-faced, they admit they’d like theirs to shine as brightly as those in such tinsel towns as Arlington Heights and Rosemont. The more frugal ones say they don’t have the green to pay for such elaborate displays.
Last year Arlington Heights and its Park District spent more than $70,000 for decorations, electricity, labor, and maintenance.
“The problem with being next to a community that does something as outstanding as Arlington Heights is we’re constantly being compared,” said Andy Radetski, Palatine public works director.
But Palatine does spend $25,000 to light downtown trees. And each year the village spends $5,000 on lights-they are thrown out yearly because it would cost more to save and repair them-and $5,000 on other decorations that are saved from year to year, so the display grows.
The village display is supplemented by businesses that purchase 51 trees-one for each state and one for the village-that are decorated by youth and civic organizations.
“I think it makes us somewhat unique,” Radetski said, “but I don’t think we’ve attracted people from other communities to see our trees. Arlington Heights has more of a regional draw.”
“We’re probably somewhere in between,” said Steve Kaar, superintendent of operations and maintenance in Naperville, referring to cost comparisons of holiday expeditures.
The village trims a large tree in the municipal center, hangs wreaths on the village buildings and strings 100,000 or so lights on downtown trees. That effort costs about $30,000 and gets larger each year because the trees get larger, Kaar said.
“We’ve expanded. It was good for the community; it was good for business,” Kaar said.
Mulder said the Arlington Heights display is for the spirit and the attraction of holiday shoppers to the village’s downtown. She insists her community isn’t trying to win a yuletide popularity contest.
“We’re not trying to do it to be the biggest and the best. Rosemont is also beautiful,” she said.
And even more expensive.
Rosemont spends about $100,000, including a large portion of its tax increment financing funds, to light trees in two parks, set up six miniature lighted houses, install large balloons in the shapes of toy soldiers, Santa and snowmen, and a manger with live animals.
“There’s a lot of people traveling through Rosemont,” Trustee Brad Stephens said, adding that busloads of people come to view the displays that can be seen from the Northwest Tollway. “We do take a lot of pride.”
But other communities say pride goeth when that much cash is at stake.
Schaumburg spends $5,000 to $6,000 a year to light a sign reading “Season’s Greetings” and to light trees at Village Hall and the police station and to hang banners.
“That’s about it,” said Ken Fritz, assistant village manager. “The expense is something that makes it prohibitive.”
The Libertyville Park District spends about $3,000 on lights at Village Hall and in two parks, while Hoffman Estates hangs a few wreaths on public buildings and Joliet cuts loose with $500 for bows.
`If you want to do more, you have to pay for it,” said Libertyville Parks Supt. Fred McLevich.
“We understand and recognize we have to exercise fiscal prudence. . . . Some of the taxpayers might not think that’s an appropriate thing to do, and we wouldn’t want to offend them,” said Wil Parker, Hoffman Estates’ assistant village manager.
National Taxpayers United of Illinois is offended by any holiday cheer financed from taxpayers’ pockets.
“We’re opposed to any use of tax dollars for non-essential services,” said Jim Tobin, president of the organization. “If they’re spending for Christmas decorations, why not for Halloween and every other holiday around? When does it stop? There’s no end to it.”
Tobin said visions of sugar plums should be paid for by individuals, businesses or chambers of commerce, as they are in communities such as Geneva and Long Grove.
“I’m sure the bureaucrats like to see them when they drive by city hall, but most of the taxpayers will never see them,” Tobin said.
