LED Makeover on the River Walk in San Antonio

San Antonio city officials have planned to renovate the old 85,000 incandescent bulbs on the River Walk with nearly 2 million LED lights.

Now, nearly 200 trees have their trunks wrapped in thousands of lights. After the city originally planned to keep the trees wrapped year-round, the San Antonio Conservation Society has prompted a move.However, a city forester assured them they wouldn't stay on forever.
Nancy Hamner Avellar, president of the society, said "The trees will be unwrapped every three years so there should be no problems with stunting their growth."

While the society doesn't work in concert with the city in regards to the lighting project, it has brought up other concerns including the stringing of lights along the bridges over the river, many of which are historic.

The lights strung along the bridges this year are temporary and rest on plastic tracks. The holiday lights will stay lit through Sunday, January 8. The city's downtown operations director Paula Stallcup said the city has had discussions with Paseo del Rio and River Walk businesses to possibly allow them to light up some of the remaining unlit trees along the river between the historic section and La Villita.