Let There Be Light

Just in time for the Brightest Night of the Year, over the weekend a Saginaw parish joined other towers of all sorts in the Michigan city to illumine its spire.

(No, that's not it at left... but just so you get the idea.):

Counting the newly lighted Saginaw Water Works tower, 11 spires shine across the city.

There are plans for at least one more said Robert Maul, Old Saginaw City businessman and civic booster.

The old Bethlehem Lutheran Church with its twin spires sits one block away from Interstate 675 on the northeast corner of Oak and Hermansau. He hopes to light the twin spires next year.

"That neighborhood needs a ray of light," Maul said. "It really adds to a sense of the community and perception. I think it will be the pinnacle of Saginaw."

The Saginaw Community Foundation has helped fund the two-year-old campaign called "Saginaw Sees the Light: Light My Spire."

Thomas Township businessman Tom McDonald is a fan of the lightings and a big financial contributor, Maul said.

"It's really nice to come over the bridges and see the lights going up on the church spires," said Maul.

"Before you wouldn't even notice them, they would just disappear into the dark."...

The lights glisten from dusk to 2:30 a.m. daily.

Cost: about $5,000 per building. Impact: priceless.

Bulbs or not, the Stateside church has 19,000 potential beacons coast to coast... do we use 'em as best we could?

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