The lights are off, but the debate continues to blaze.
St. Augustine City Commissioners took aim this week at some Nights of Lights decorations, asserting that decadent displays debase the event.
City Commissioner Jim Springfield called for a crackdown on certain types of lights being presented by some downtown businesses during the holiday extravaganza.
Branding them “tacky,” Springfield said the offending illuminations don’t comport with the city’s character.
“We just need to make an effort to try to talk to those businesses and have them remove some of that stuff that doesn’t belong, multi-colored, moving lights,” he said. “Just the gaudiness of it.”
The original Nights of Lights concept, several commissioners said, was intended to enhance St. Augustine’s architectural splendor rather than turn it into a Disney-adjacent fever dream.
Business owners told The Citizen that bulb abuse is limited, and that the existing approach attracts attendees of all ages. Those crowds, they assert, are the economic lifeblood of a largely tourism-dependent town.
Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder, who has previously taken aim at what she deemed decorative excesses like inflatable Christmas characters, echoed Springfield’s call for an aesthetic overhaul.
“I also have gone on public record before about the Nights of Lights and the appearance of some of the decorations,” she said at Monday’s meeting. “And got pretty much reamed on social media for that, which is not unexpected.”
Blonder said she espouses “going back back to the original intent of our appearance and highlighting our historical uniqueness.”
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline said she also has concerns about foul festooning, but wondered how enforcement would work in practice.
City Manager David Birchim also highlighted that hurdle.
“I think the the core question is our will to enforce it, and that’s what you need to decide,” he said. “Because coming up with a document that has the guidelines is easy. It’s enforcing it is the hard part.”
