It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Downtown Appleton!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! One of the most beloved annual traditions has returned to Downtown Appleton. A week ago the first intersection of angels went up in time for the new event, Light Up Night. Then over the past week, angels on the light poles lining College Avenue and two more intersections of angels were added!
As some of you may know in 2003, the angels were evaluated and it was determined that they were unfit and unsafe to be hung up. Plus in many cases, the hardware necessary for them to hang over the intersections was missing or damaged. Appleton Downtown Inc. (ADI), took up the case and through generous donations by community members and a special angel, Francis Burstein, the intersection at College Avenue and Appleton St. and the angels on the light poles were refurbished and back up a year later.
Through continued fundraising, another intersection was refurbished and hung in 2014. Last year about this time, ADI announced that they were looking for additional donations to continue the process of adding intersections of angels. As you will notice this year, a third intersection is shining down on the Avenue. Some of the funds were once again donated and then ADI took a blind leap of faith believing that the rest of what was needed would be donated.
“The Avenue of Angels is one of the memories people who grew up in the Fox Cities loved best about the holidays and we are proud to bring the tradition back!” says Jennifer Stephany, Executive Director of ADI and Creative Downtown Appleton, a 501(c) 3 branch of Appleton Downtown Inc. “We remain hopeful that the community will come together and show their support for this tradition. Creative Downtown Appleton was founded in 2015 to enhance the cultural and artistic environment of Appleton and we felt this was a perfect example of creative expression."
To make a donation to the Angel Fund, or stop by or mail a check to Creative Downtown Appleton, 116 N. Appleton St., Appleton, WI 54911. More information on Creative Downtown Appleton can be found at appletondowntown.org/creative. The first twenty donations of $25 or more will receive $5 AngelBucks good at Angels Forever-Windows of Light.