Looking like Christmas in Polk

LAKELAND — Drive down the major roadways and visit notable parks in Polk County and you'll see that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Throughout the cities, some places have traditions that have lasted for more than 20 years while others have implemented new décor. Whether the city is big or small, the efforts are immense and often go unnoticed — just as city staff would have it in some cases.

In Lakeland

In Polk County's largest city of Lakeland, the Christmas decoration season started with bulb testing at the beginning of October, according to a city video. Each year, the goal is to have all decorations in place before Thanksgiving, but that doesn't always happen. That was the case, however, downtown and at Lake Mirror.

"We generally start prepping before it leaves our warehouse," said Steve Platt, grounds and maintenance supervisor in Lakeland. "We start hanging them on Nov. 1. Our goal is to have the entire downtown core completely lit by Thanksgiving night."

Some light pieces in Lakeland, such as those at Munn Park, are more than 20 years old. Everything has been upgraded to LED lights. Some pieces when initially purchased were close to $1,000. Once up, they're all monitored daily. Platt estimated that the city had between 1,500 and 2,000 total pieces.

Old traditions

Other parts of the county feature traditions that have been in place for more than 20 years. In the northeast side of the county, like in Davenport and Haines City, familiar themes light the roadways.

In Davenport, that theme is holly. In Haines City, it's angels on U.S. 17/92 and U.S. 17. Those are traditions that have been alive since 1996.

“We put all of (our holly decorations) up in a day,” Davenport City Manager Kelly Callihan said. “Then we put up lights around the gazebos and the trees in the park. All of it usually takes a week.”

Winter Haven historian Bob Gernert said the collaborative effort among the cities began with a “Gardens of Light” Christmas display at Cypress Gardens in the mid-1990s. Winter Haven's symbol was poinsettias.

“Each city chose a symbol and you could see the different symbols anywhere you drove throughout the county,” Gernert said. “It was really quite an effort countywide.”

Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing provided an ad that was placed in a Tampa magazine in 1996 promoting the “City Lights-Cypress Nights” tour across 14 cities.

“The idea was to have a countywide driving tour,” said Jack Cormier, a spokesman for Polk County Tourism. “We were trying to promote it even with folks from outside the county.”

M.J. Carnevale, Winter Haven's public works director, said the poinsettias come in all shapes and sizes. The city also puts up about 400 small banners throughout the city. They started going up in mid-November and tend to stay up for about 50 days.

“I think generally there is a sense that the holiday season is here,” Carnevale said of the employees' efforts. “They know these decorations make people happy and they take pride in that. It's one of those little things in public works that people tend to appreciate.”

Although he now works in Davenport, Callihan was parks and recreation director in Haines City when the tradition of angels first began. He credited former Mayor Joanna Wilkinson with leading the effort to acquire the angels.

Often times back then, Callihan said, residents would participate in the effort by putting light displays on their homes that coincided with the city theme. In Davenport, it was referred to as the “Holly Light Tour.”

“I don't think there's as much emphasis as there used to be,” Callihan said. “You used to be able to drive from city to city to look at the lights and take it all in.”

Out with old, in with new

In Lake Wales, the theme throughout the city used to be bells, but that stopped being pushed or promoted in the early-2000s, according to a city spokeswoman. The city began leasing its decorations shortly after, but there are still banners that read “City of Bells” that are currently up in the city.

In Auburndale, the theme during the tour was wreaths, but now the focus is on trees. In addition to Christmas tree displays on the light poles, there are three displays in the downtown area near City Hall, Lake Stella and the historic Depot.

The theme in Lake Alfred is poinsettias, but City Manager Ryan Leavengood said that isn't part of the tradition that dates back to the 1990s. The theme during the tour in 1996 was “Toyland,” but older decorations, Leavengood said, had just sat in storage. Leavengood said that electricians set up light poles so that they could accommodate decorations while Florida Department of Transportation was redesigning U.S. 17/92.

“We've bought these decorations since I've been manager,” he said. “(Rather than an old tradition), I think it had more to do with wanting to be different. We put up decorations after Thanksgiving and take them down after New Year's.”

In Bartow, the theme was nostalgia, but that hasn't been promoted or celebrated in the city for more than 15 years, according to Bartow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jeff Clark.

“We do not currently have a theme,” Clark said in an email. “I know that the city has spent the past several years replacing a lot of the older decorations. This year, the large city tree in Fort Blount Park was replaced with a new one. Some of the other cities might have continued with their theme; however, Bartow did not.”

In 1996 in Eagle Lake, the theme was mistletoe, but has since switched to candles and angels on U.S. 17 and Eagle Avenue. Dundee, where the original theme was friends, has a variety of decorations. Lake Hamilton does not have Christmas decorations. Not surprisingly, the theme for Lakeland in 1996 was swans, but that tradition has largely subsided as well.

Other cities that participated in the “City Lights-Cypress Nights” tour back in the late-1990s were Fort Meade (trees), Frostproof (snowflakes), Mulberry (winter wonderland) and Polk City (reindeer).

Time and effort

With Lakeland's efforts lasting from October through November and Davenport's taking a week, how much time and effort is varied throughout the county. Callihan said it takes about two employees and one bucket truck in Davenport while the efforts in Lake Alfred are significant given its small workforce.

“It's a significant amount of time,” Leavengood said of Lake Alfred. “It's a two- to three-man crew. You also have a police officer tied up for safety reasons.”

Carnevale said that in Winter Haven, employees will adjust their schedules to work on SR 17, First Street, Martin Luther King Way, Havendale Boulevard, Cypress Gardens Boulevard and Central Avenue.

“Usually it takes about a week,” Carnevale said. “They generally come in real early. This kind of work isn't real loud, so we can do it quietly without disturbing residents. We try to do it early where you have very little traffic.”

According to Platt, between five and 12 Lakeland city employees worked daily to get the decorations up.

"I think we all look forward to it," Platt said. "The biggest thrill we get out of it is when we see the kids or the families enjoying it in Munn Park or taking pictures of the big Christmas trees. I think it's great how involved the city is. Getting people in the Christmas spirit and creating smiles is what it's all about."

Mike Ferguson can be reached at Mike.Ferguson@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.