Has Ted Turner bought the town?
For years, downtown Baltimore's two most visible public spaces, Harborplace and the Washington Monument, opted for all-white holiday attire -- strings of diamond-like lights twinkling against the dark night sky in a black-and-white movie come to life.
But this year, they've been colorized.
The monument is bedecked in gumdrop colors rather than the usual all-white lights, save for blue bulbs at the bottom of each string to memorialize city police and firefighters who gave their lives in duty. Harborplace has gone with a "Renaissance" palette of red, purple and gold lights -- which from afar glow rather pinkish -- to match the color scheme of its holiday decorations.
The lighters of Harborplace and the monument decided quite independently of each other to go multi-colored this year -- just for something different.
"I think it's nice to change every once in a while," said Cal Buikema, the city's superintendent of parks, which lights the monument every year. While the city has used colored lights in the past, white has been the choice of recent years. "Maybe we should switch every year."
Harborplace, likewise, used all-white lights every Christmas season since it opened in 1980. This year, though, its lights supplier began offering custom- colored lights, rather than just the usual multi-colors mix "that didn't fit our decor," said Harborplace spokeswoman Kate Delano.
So the downtown complex of shops and pavillions decided to try something different -- to mixed response.
"People noticed immediately," Ms. Delano said. "It's been about half and half," she said of the split between callers who like the new colors and those who miss the all-white shimmer.
"Some people miss the white lights -- they think it looks more magical and twinkly. Others like the new lights mainly because they're something different," she said.
The monument's new colors have drawn comments on both sides as well.
"I happen to prefer the white lights," said Connie Caplan, head of Friends of Mount Vernon, which led the effort to restore the monument. "It's sort of kitschy now."
"It's wonderful. It's more decorative. Who needs to be that pure?" said Allen Golden, incoming president of the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Improvement Association.
"I like the variety," said Dean Krimmel, curator of local history for the City Life Museums, who every year leads a bus tour of holiday light displays. "I like the excess."
For some, the colors are a welcome break from the all-white scheme that many cities have gone with for public spaces in recent years. It's easy to understand: White lights at night are as elegant and extravagant as diamonds on black velvet. It's the appeal of "Casablanca" vs. Disney.
But like anything done too often, it can become a cliche.
"It's almost like everyone was doing tiny white lights for so long, colored lights now look great," said Bob Rubenkonig, associate director for corporate merchandising and creative services for the Rouse Co., which operates Harborplace and other urban marketplaces across the country. "It's like skirt lengths -- let's try something new this year."