Bring back colored lights to the Common
About ten years ago, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department switched its Common holiday tree lighting from the multi-colored lights they had used for many years to all-white lights, except for the one Christmas tree.
This followed a trend in many communities, where multi-colored displays began to be seen as vulgar and all-white lights as "tasteful." Perhaps it was Martha Stewart or some other middlebrow tastemaker who put out the fatwa on multi-colored lighting, but many towns fell into line.
The all-white lights on the trees of the Common are boring compared to the varied colors of years past. The imposition of a constrained haute-bourgeois aesthetic on Common holiday lighting has made the effect less enjoyable for most folks. The Common holiday lighting is no longer worth a special trip to take the kids to.
Anyone running for Mayor of Boston should promise to change back to a colorful Common holiday lighting display.
Comments
I'd sign on for that campaign
As a lifelong Christmas light devotee, I have found the all-white setup the most awful holiday decoration trend of my lifetime. Not even those big inflatable figures are this bad, although the big inflatable figures are awful. Here's a hint: is your home a used car dealership? Then don't put a big-ass inflatable Santa in your yard.
Colors..
The Mall does look nice with all one color - but the common lighting is so varied, the color would add a little something to it. Only problem was, burned out bulbs were often replaced with white bulbs and not their proper color, so over time they looked pretty bad.
Ive always been a white
Ive always been a white light person myself with a little color here and there to pop out which is what it sounds like whats happening at the Common with mostly white lights then one big multicolored tree. Its the same way I feel about interior decorating, Id rather have beige and offwhite walls with mostly nice looking pieces of furniture so I could then use that back drop to drop in things I really like and want people to notice (instead of lookingat my tangerine walls.) Its possible that the Common needs a little more color, but thats very different from saying all the lights need to be multicolored and crazy. I feel that multicolored lights are overdone, and can be a little tacky when there are too many of them.
Yes, bring back the colors
I liked colored lights too.
Awhile back everyone seemed to decide that anything other than white lights was tacky, but I just don't think that's true. I noticed more colored lights on houses this year than in other years, and I liked most of them - not tacky at all.
The displays that crack me up are the ones with all white lights, but then include those horrible blow-up things. I don't think using colored lights with those awful blow-up things would make them any tackier! (I have to confess, I kind of like the merry-go-round ones, but wouldn't go so far as to actually put one on my lawn.)