PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After about a year of darkness, the lights along Philadelphia’s iconic Boathouse Row are about to shine again.
The project to replace the lighting system is nearly complete. The new and improved lights cover all 12 historic boathouses along the Schuylkill River and include some special features.
“The new lighting system has 6,400 individual LED lights, with 16 million color combinations possible,” said Tara Rasheed, Fairmount Park Conservancy senior director of capital projects. “The lightings are able to change from one color to another. They can fade in and out. There is a sparkle feature that gives an effect of lights dancing along the boathouses.
“The lighting really has been reoriented to enhance the architectural features of the historic structures.”
The old lights experienced outages due to ongoing maintenance issues, as well as damage from animals and weather. Fairmount Park Conservancy partnered with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation to replace them with the upgraded technology — a total of $2.1 million, which was funded by the Joanna McNeil Trust and Parks and Rec.
An official Boathouse Row relighting ceremony will take place on Thursday, March 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. along MLK Drive at the Fish Ladder, directly across the river from Boathouse Row.