There are several entities that help make Washington’s town square shine bright every holiday season, with a long held feature at its center.

For years the city’s parks and recreation department has maintained the lighted fountain display that was originally constructed by former Parks Superintendent Royden Boshart. Current Parks Superintendent Nick Pacha says it takes about 10 employees combined from the parks and public works departments to put up the display by Thanksgiving, and he says the hardest part of installation is working with the weather forecast. Pacha believes Washington’s holiday display ranks high among those he’s seen in Iowa, and though the display may need some upgrades he thinks the city will want to keep its integrity intact, “We’ve always thought about it, like I said it’s got some age on it but we’re going to get a plan to refurbish it. We thought about just changing it up and putting like a Christmas tree on there, but since the fountain is such a focal point for the city with the logo and it’s kind of the main feature in Central Park I think we’ll probably stick with more of the fountain-looking decoration and just try to refurbish it and repair it.”

Pacha says he would like to replace some of the wiring of the display and change the bulbs to LED. He also credits the Washington Chamber of Commerce for their stewardship of the stringed lights around the downtown buildings which they have recently received grant funding to extend, as well as Main Street Washington for their Lights of Love Memory Tree program which helps give more glow to downtown.