FOLEY – Downtown Foley buildings will have the opportunity to shine thanks to a joint program by the city and Foley Main Street.
The city of Foley is providing LED cafe lights to local property owners to outline their downtown buildings in the Foley Main Street District. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said lighting buildings has proven to be popular in many areas.
“As you travel around the country, you see cities and downtown communities where they light up the outline of the top of the buildings,” Hellmich said. “I’ve been to a lot of cities and seen them, in places like Colorado and North Carolina.”
Hellmich said the city is working with Foley Main Street, the community’s downtown development and improvement organization, to initiate the program.
“The city has embarked on a joint project with Foley Main Street and the merchants,” Hellmich said. “We’re going to provide those the lights, the property owners can put them up on their building with attachments. The city will provide them with dawn to dusk sensors to turn them on and off. This will create more ambiance for our Main Street downtown.”
The city will also provide the light sensors and clips to attach the system to the buildings.
He said the new LED lights can illuminate the outline of a building and use less electricity than older types of lighting. The LED lights are also smaller and less noticeable on buildings during daylight hours.
“Now, cafe lights are inexpensive and they’re LED,” Hellmich said. “They used to be heavy and it cost a lot of money when they were incandescent, but with LED, it’s just pennies.”
Hellmich said Foley Main Street can provide a list of vendors who can install the lights.
Any business owner wanting to take part in the program can email information to info@foleymainstreet.com.