FREEPORT

For the first time since 2013, the streets of Freeport will be lit up for the holidays. Freeport USA has teamed with the Freeport Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to bring Freeport’s holiday lights back to prominence.

Kelly Edwards, executive director of Freeport USA, and Jay Paulus, manager of Brigham and Cook British Foodstores in Freeport, are heading up the fundraiser.

“I was pretty disappointed to see the lights go away,” said Paulus, who along with Edwards started brainstorming the idea to bring the lights back over a year ago. “Holidays are big, especially in Maine. You drive to different towns and are greeted by lights. To not have them (in Freeport) bothered me.”

Edwards agreed.

“When you visit other communities, you notice their lights and think, ‘we’d love to get them back up in Freeport,’” said Edwards.

To get their idea up and running, Paulus and Edwards partnered with the Freeport Chamber and the Community Improvement Association.

“They both had a lot of enthusiasm for the project,” said Edwards. “We came together and started appealing to local businesses to fund the lights.”

When businesses contribute funds, Edwards said, they get incentives from the chamber along. And, Paulus pointed out, businesses get the reap the benefit of extra light in areas that tended to be in the shadows on most winter nights the past few years.

“L.L. Bean does a great job with their lights, but those folks on the side streets get left out,” said Paulus. “Our focus is to get those folks some more sparkle.”

In two months, Freeport USA has raised enough funds for 15 white, LED snowflake-shaped light fixtures, and hope to have at least 20 by the time the lights go up in November. The fixtures will be placed on telephone poles on Main Street and adjacent side streets in a two-mile stretch from the Harraseeket Inn to the Holiday Inn.

“We are trying to keep the look traditional and timeless,” said Paulus, who pointed out that the white lights will have a minimalistic quality to them that won’t be overbearing. They’ll be a lot easier to maintain than the older lights, which required a lot of maintenance, driving up overall costs.

Though 20 lights is a great start, Paulus said, the fundraiser won’t stop this year.

“There are 40 some-odd light poles in town,” Paulus said. “Why not light them all up? Maybe one day we’ll put some ribbon up on the telephone poles, too.”

“We are really excited for this holiday season,” said Edwards. “But our goal in the next couple of years is to light up all of Freeport.”

Some of the businesses who have donated so far are Brigham and Cook, Harraseeket Inn, Fiore, Mexicali Blues and the Downeaster rail service. Each fixtures costs around $390.

For more information on how to donate to Freeport USA’s Christmas lights fund, visit freeportusa.com.