What's up with the lights around here?

Do you see anything strange here? I mean beside the fact that the Christmas decorations are still up at this late date. I mean the various light fixtures that are around the Grove.

As you pass from street to street, each street has a different lighting fixture. Supposedly they are all going to conform, I think, to the ugly one in the center above, which is front of the post office. It fits the post office ambiance, or lack of it, but the main issue is that the old fashioned gas light style will be disappearing from the Grove.

The current ones are about 30 years old and it's hard to find replacements, so the county, who is in charge now, is changing the style. Grand Avenue and Main Highway are county owned roads.

Grove leaders do not want the responsibility of maintaining the fixtures if the county is willing to take it. They will service the lights, repair them and maintain them. But the charm is going.

New fixtures were installed on Fuller Street and Commodore Plaza, but they are wrong for some reason and they will be changed. I think one reason is that they are too high and if you see the ones on Mary Street and McFarlane, they are way up in the sky and need to be lowered. They did add power to each tree base, so trees may be lit up, but who cares? We want to keep the gas light style.

It's on the logo of various Grove organizations and it's just part of the area. But currently, nothing matches anyway. In the photos below you can see the two styles: the ones on the left have the same sort of crown look but the base is different and in the photos above, the fixtures may be the same, but the lamps or bulb areas are different.

A few people brought up the fact that there are areas in the state that have the gaslight style that are new, but have the old look and we should get those. We'll see what happens.

One thing is for sure: Planters will hang from the fixtures on either side, like you see in many cities. That always adds some color and charm.