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BELLEVILLE - The Christmas lights that line Main Street in Belleville are little brighter this year, thanks in part to the Lions Club.
Every year since the mid-1960s, Belleville Lions Club members have taken it upon themselves to add a little more joy to the season by providing Christmas lights for the community.
Every so often, the club has had to replace the lights and buy new ones - this was one of those years. This year marks the fourth time the club has replaced the lights in Belleville.
The club used the need for new lights as a good excuse to expand the amount of lights.
Belleville Lions Club President Charles Cruikshank said there are now 32 lights that line Main Street, nearly doubling the amount of lights from the previous year.
"It covers just about the entire length of town now," Cruikshank said.
With the exception of two of the old lantern lights on the far ends of Main Street, the whole lighting layout is new and includes 18 new receptacles, put in with the help of some Penelec employees.
"We are very fortunate to have three guys from Penelec who actually live in Belleville ... they hopped right on the job, they were great to work with," Cruikshank said, adding that the Belleville Fire Police also helped during the instillation process by providing flagging services for traffic control.
The old lights didn't go waste, though. Cruikshank said the club was able to sell those lights to another Lions Club in southern Pennsylvania.
He said all the new lights are LED, which means they should be less maintenance and use less energy.
The three-years-in-the-making $17,000 lighting upgrade was designed by Dave Remensnyder and Marv Reifseck with help from Penelec, Cruikshank said. The community also was able to provided input on the design.
"Mostly our wives," Cruikshank said with a laugh.
Remensnyder said this project could not have been done without the outpouring of community support - a sentiment that Cruikshank echoed, "The real story here is the community effort, we are truly grateful."
"Being able to recognize these folks is important," he added.
The Belleville Lions Club would like to thank the following people for their contributions: Belleville Civic Club, Village Pride, Union Township, Kish Bank, The Stewardship Group, Taptich Engineering, Boring Transport Inc., Ye Old Dog House, M.D. Yoder Garage, Nittany Oil, Baggus Funeral Home, Hearn and Stroup Accounting, Original Italian Pizza, Minit Mart, Whitehall General Store, Stroup-Alexander VFW Post, Belleville Vol. Fire Company, Mahogany Ridge Game Farm, John E. and Denise Chester, John S. Yoder, Bob Byler, Dave Remensnyder, Charlie and Pattie Cruikshank, Don and Rosalie Smith, Marv Reifseck, and Joe and Phyllis Sikorsky.
