Buffalo Rising Online

Dec 6th 2007, 9:53am By queenseyes

This might not be a big deal for some... but for others it's a major topic of conversation. After years and years of decorating Elmwood Avenue with tiny white holiday lights, the businesses, between the stretch of Lafayette and West Ferry, decided to change it up Last night I overheard, and then was threatened (in a polite way), that the green lighting decision was in poor taste. I explained to the opinionated party that I had no control of the lighting change, and proceeded to ask around to see whose decision it was. I think the green lights are cool. I have heard both positive and negative reviews. Actually, I never thought that people would be so opinionated.

I figured that the Elmwood Village Association Assistant Director, Nate Drag, would have the answer, and he did. "The green lights were put up to match the banner colors on that section of the street," he told me. "The businesses on each section are responsible for putting their own lights up. They chose to go with green this year." So there was an element of planning behind the decision. Ward Pinkel, owner of Urban Threads likes the new splash of color. "We've had a couple people who think that they're too 'Christmassy'," he explained. "For the most part people like them. They like it because it's different. During the day we have the green banners, and at night we have the green lights. My wife Maureen came up with the idea and the rest of the businesses liked it. The Elmwood Association liked it to. The association even sent an email out asking the rest of the sections to decorate in different colored lighting to match their banners.

"Unfortunately the other sections think that it’s the association that does it on our blocks... they want the association to do it for them. We do it ourselves. Each of the businesses put in 30 dollars and the owners went out and hung the lights. The rest of the sections think that someone should do it for them. As an organization we wanted to have a consistent look on the street, so the ornaments that you see hanging is the result. The organization provided those ornaments for the whole street... then it's up to the individual blocks to do the rest (the lighting). There are some businesses in those other blocks that do try to get the rest of the businesses to jump onboard. There are some significant trees that would look great if lit up. It has been done sporadically. We tried to do help the other blocks for a couple years in hopes that it would catch on. Casa di Pizza does a good job, and Off the Wall and Lu Modern have tried... as for the northern blocks, blue lights would have looked great to match their blue banners. Maybe next year."