The city of Visalia wants to help you save money on Christmas lights this year — and money on your energy bill every year — by giving away strands of energy-efficient lights.
A free exchange program on Saturday will let Visalia residents swap out old incandescent Christmas lights one-for-one with energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lights, up to five strands per household.
"This is a partnership we have with Southern California Edison and the VIEW program that lets us have these lights to give to residents," said Nathan Garza, a natural resource conservation technician with the city.
VIEW is an acronym for Valley Innovative Energy Watch, a collaboration of Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, and local governments in Tulare and Kings counties to help improve energy efficiency in the Central Valley.
This year, Garza said, the city has 500 strands of lights to give away, five times more than last year.
"We'll still run out, but not as quickly," he said.
be given to customers of Southern California Edison.
"And the important thing to remember is that [residents] must bring an old strand with them in order to get the new LED lights," said Nancy Loliva, the city's community relations manager.
The LED light strands each have 100 colored lamps and can retail for around $20 each.
The lights should last for 20 seasons, Garza said, and are safe for indoor and outdoor use.
"They don't generate heat, so they're safe for real and artificial trees," he said. "They're also brighter and have a sharper color."
The 74-foot-tall Norway spruce was illuminated by 30,000 lights during a ceremony that featured performances by Neil Diamond, Cee Lo Green and Carol King. Justin Bieber and Tony Bennett provided pre-taped performances.
It was the first time at the tree lighting for 13 year-old best friends Emily Solomon and Carmela Civello, of Brooklyn.
"It was beautiful," they said in unison.
Though they partially attended the lighting ceremony to see Bieber and were a bit miffed his performance was prerecorded and shown on monitors, they said they were happy to be there.
Tens of thousands of people were penned in on the streets surrounding Rockefeller Center, in midtown Manhattan. Most caught glimpses of performances on screens set up on street corners.
Paloma Diaz, 11, called herself a Bieber "believer" and attended to see him perform.
"I love him, but I also want to see the tree lighting," said the Queens resident, who was with her mother. "I've heard other people say it's really pretty when it lights up."
The tree-lighting ceremony happened on a day President Barack Obama was in town to raise money for his re-election bid. The combination of blocked-off streets and holiday visitors led to traffic jams across Manhattan.
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