The new lighted fountain decoration in Washington’s Central Park. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The City of Washington’s beacon during the holiday season has received a facelift.

The parks and recreation department installed a new lighted decoration on top of the Central Park fountain this November, which is narrower in width but five feet taller than the previous structure built decades ago by a former city employee. Parks Superintendent Nick Pacha says the department has long wanted to address the former decoration’s issues, “It’s just been kind of troublesome the past few years, it’s got some age on it. The old structure was homemade and well done but got quite a few years on it and the wiring was just getting brittle. Old incandescent lightbulbs that were having trouble anytime we got some moisture, it would flip a breaker and need to dry out for a day or two before we could flip it back on.”

After investigating ways to rewire the old structure and consulting different vendors the city decided to purchase a new decoration from Temple Display of Illinois. The new display has LED lighting, is easier to install, and Pacha feels is a nice upgrade to the downtown square. The display cost around $6,000, which was funded in part by the Washington, IA Betterment Foundation, who Pacha thanks for their continued support for downtown beautification.

The former fountain lighted decoration.