The Light Uptown Project, which sat dormant for many years, has been resurrected with new energy and excitement. The Park Avenue Community Association (PACA) and the SummerFest Committee, with help from the city of Hot Springs and McGrew Electric, are charging full speed ahead to line beautiful, historic Park Avenue with Central Park style street lights that will provide additional beauty and enhanced safety to the neighborhood.
The “dark sky” lighting principles incorporated into the lamps will reduce the glare of disbursed light and reduce light pollution. Since the installation of the first lamp in November, 2017, the committee has facilitated raising funds with community outreach, a neighborhood yard sale, grant writing and the upcoming SummerFest Festival.
A push to encourage our corporate friends to participate will soon be launched. To date, enough funds have been raised for eight more lamps to be placed along Park Avenue. One of the lamps will be a way-find marker for the new Northwoods Urban Forest Park trails.
Upon completion of “Light Uptown,” approximately eleven blocks of Park Avenue, from Central Avenue to Circle Drive, will be illuminated with a total of seventy-seven historic Central Park-style street lamps. This, along with the other improvements that have been made, and continue to be made along Park Avenue, are providing an inviting environment with improved traffic flow, pedestrian ADA accessibility and is bicycle friendly.
The Uptown area has a population of roughly 3,200, residents. As a gateway to Hot Springs and as a designated Scenic Highway, better lighting will greatly benefit the 14,800 vehicles a day that travel through Uptown.
If you would like to contribute to the Light Uptown Project, you can contact the SummerFest Committee on their Facebook page, SummerFest Uptown or call Hannah Mills, 501-282-1872 or Kelly Thomason, 501-538-4370.
