Kenai plans to spend $50,000 replacing damaged holiday decorations along the Spur Highway

Kenai plans to spend $50,000 replacing the lighted holiday decorations that hang from streetlights along the Kenai Spur Highway, Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best told the city's Beautification Commission last month.

The city's roughly 25 poinsettia decorations, some single and some double, "have been in use for many years and are beginning to show their age," Best wrote in a Sept. 24 memo to the commission. Parks and Recreation has kept painting and repairing them to extend their life, he wrote, but it's time to start replacing them. The project would also replace about 25 winter banners.

Don't expect new lights this year. The city plans to order in the next several months and hang the new decorations for the 2027-28 winter.

What they'll look like is still open. Best gave the commission preliminary prices for six designs, not counting shipping.

The poinsettias could be replaced with new ones, from $915 for a 4½-foot single to $1,695 for a 7½-foot double with garland. Other options include a 7-foot French horn with holly for $1,255 and 8-foot red and gold glitter-mesh designs for $1,620 to $2,150.

The commission was set to give feedback on styles at an Oct. 13 work session, with the goal of fitting the final order within the $50,000 budget. Older decorations still in good shape may move to other city streets, the memo says.

The commission, which advises the city on seasonal displays, also heard in September that an earlier banner replacement proposal wasn't approved but will be resubmitted.