Keeping Spirits--and Cities --Bright

From miles of high-maintenance twinkling lights to modest strands of garland, Orange County cities use a wide variety of decorations for the holidays. And the contrast in styles, from lavish to laid-back, doesn’t necessarily reflect a city’s size or budget.

Anaheim, which with 300,000 residents is the largest Orange County city, spends about $1,500 for a single 12-foot wreath outside City Hall each year. Workers use branches from tree-trimming operations to make the wreath, and a citizen group decorates a 35-foot-tall tree that grows downtown.

The whole effort costs taxpayers about half a cent apiece, and there has been little talk of changing that practice, city spokesman Bret Colson said. “We don’t want it to open us up for criticism, like we’re spending more money than we need to on decorations.”

By contrast, Aliso Viejo goes all out. The unincorporated South County community of about 26,000 spent more than $20,000 this year--that’s about 77 cents apiece--for glowing “Season’s Greetings” signs at every major intersection and brightly colored bulbs on the branches of more than 70 cedar trees.

“It says something about our community,” said David Wilson, recreation director for Aliso Viejo’s community association. “It shows we’re a friendly, spirited neighborhood.”

Wilson said the community pays a landscaping company to put up and take down the displays but uses volunteers to wrap them up and store them. Aliso Viejo also hires an electrician to be on call to replace burned-out bulbs.

*

The 1,700-home development of Laguna Audubon, however, is responsible for one of the most visible holiday displays in Aliso Viejo.

As members of the community’s largest homeowners association, Laguna Audubon residents pay to see nearly 8,000 feet of white lights hand-glued to the top of a winding concrete wall that borders their development at Aliso Creek and El Toro roads.

Ninety lighted white doves are bolted along the wall, while all five of the development’s entryways are decked out with glistening garlands and bows. The cost: about $10,000, paid by the homeowners association.

“We really think it gets people’s attention,” said Brian Mitchell, a spokesman for Merit Property Management, which oversees the association. “Besides, it’s beautiful.”

Like Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach goes all out on holiday decorations, but not at a direct cost to its 24,000 residents. Instead, the Chamber of Commerce spends nearly $10,000 stringing miles of white lights across the city and along Pacific Coast Highway.

The business group also pays to decorate the century-old pepper tree at City Hall and springs for an occasional appearance by Santa Claus on a decked-out fire engine that rolls through town.

“We spend big bucks, and we go all out,” said Sande St. John, director of the chamber, which has about 400 members. “We do it because we love it.”

*

Irvine and Newport Beach rely on community associations to make the cities look festive. With 106 homeowners associations in Irvine and “no real downtown area,” City Manager Paul Brady said, businesses and residents take over the holiday arrangements.

“We don’t have a formal decoration program,” Brady said. “We leave it up to the community associations. They probably do a better job anyway.”

Irvine’s Woodbridge Village association, for example, holds contests for the most elaborate light display. The group also strings lights along the lake, sponsors sleigh rides and sprinkles plastic foam “California snow” at shopping centers.

Newport Beach has a similar setup. Aside from a few signs and Santa hats on the dolphin topiary in medians on Pacific Coast Highway in Corona del Mar, the city’s 100 community associations do most of the decorating and organize the popular boat parade in the harbor.

“We have more lights up and down this city than you can imagine,” said Dave Niederhaus, general services director. “We pay for very little of it.”

*

Other cities hire private companies to do the work.

Roger Herrington, owner of a Huntington Beach decorating company, contracts with several Orange County municipalities for the holidays.

In Fullerton, for example, his company has overseen the decorating since City Council members agreed seven years ago to spend $40,000 for 200 five-foot Christmas wreaths and to illumine hundreds of street-side trees.

Now it costs the city $20,000 a year--half of the initial investment--for its annual display, officials said. Services like Herrington’s take care of details, from deciding where to hang the wreaths to making sure that burned-out lightbulbs are replaced promptly.

Otherwise, “the labor would be too costly,” said Terry Galvin, the city’s redevelopment manager. “This way, our residents and business owners can count on the same look every year, sort of like tradition.”