Capitol glitters
90,000 lights shine as holiday tradition marches on.
The Arkansas Capitol switched on 90,000 Christmas lights at the culmination of Saturday’s Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade, marking more than 70 years that the building has displayed the lights.
The lights are typically turned on as soon as the sun goes down after the annual parade on Broadway and Capitol Avenue in Little Rock.
The lighting tradition began in 1938, when the secretary of state, Crip Hall, decided to do something for the children who were spending Christmas at the nearby Arkansas Children’s Hospital, said David Ware, who’s going into his 14th year as Capitol historian.
Hall had an electrician put lights on the Capitol dome and put a silver painted Christmas tree out front, Ware said. Hall received numerous letters thanking him for brightening the children’s holiday.
“We don’t know much about the early decorations at the Capitol,” Ware said. “We know the lighting has gotten more elaborate.”
The display now features 90,000 lights. Secretary of state spokesman Laura Labay said LED lights have cut energy costs down to a quarter of what they used to be.
She did not provide cost information on the display, which is put up by Capitol facilities workers in the secretary of state’s office.
While the “elaborateness” of the building’s interior decorations hasn’t changed much, Ware said the outdoor design has varied during the past 77 years.
The current design strings white lights across the edges of the building, still including the dome. The lights were
usually red and green until 1983 but have been white ever since, Ware said.
In 1940, the lights were blue on the body of the building and amber on the dome, he said. That same year, the Capitol display featured a Nativity scene and loudspeakers in the rotunda to broadcast Christmas music.
In 1941, during World War II, the War Production Board ordered cutbacks on most lighted displays, so a 16-foot corkbark fir tree sent by Arizona Gov. Sidney Osborn was the main Capitol decoration.
The Christmas lights didn’t return until 1945, when the display also featured a tree in front of the Capitol, a Nativity scene and bronze doors.
The lights disappeared again for a brief stint in the 1970s, Ware said, because of a global “energy crunch.”
The Nativity scenes have been paid for by private funds, Ware said, and they also have evolved.
The Nativity figures went from papier mache to rubber and finally to catalpa wood. They moved from the front steps to the plaza, to the north mall and then finally to the south mall, where they currently stand, Ware said.
“I think the Capitol looks every bit as handsome as it did since I got here,” Ware said. “This is a tradition that’s been building since 1938. It’s got a lot to live up to.”