ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Nights of Lights in St. Augustine is known for its millions of twinkling white bulbs.
Sometimes, there is the occasional multi-colored bulb that is spotted.
However, this year, there is a bevvy of the bulbs of different colors.
Chris Fitts and his team with Angels in the Architecture go to great heights and hidden places in order to string up most of the lights for the Nights of Lights each year.
Once the twinkling starts, "I go out every day and every night and do my nightly check," Fitts said. "I make sure everything is up and running properly."
Someone... somehow… sneaks a bright colored bulb into a random spot amidst the clear lights. It's been happening for years.
So Fitts will "pull out all the colored lights bulbs, and replace them with a clear one. And I put them in my truck door pocket."
This year, Fitts said for some reason, he is finding more multi-colored bulbs in different places than in years past.
"I’d say probably 150 colored bulbs this season," he said. "Bunch of bulbs."
Why? He’s not really sure.
But he chuckled and said, "It’s all good fun."
Fitts has found multi-colored bulbs in some high and unusual places such as on tall buildings and on palm trees.
"Every day there’s a new bulb," he nodded.
He doesn’t know if one person is responsible or if it's several people who are doing secretly switching out lights.
These light bulbs are different from the original small, red bulb that a city worker named Bob Mangels started putting up every year, decades ago for his little girl, Liliana.
Now, Liliana has a child of her own. "Bob’s granddaughter also has a light because he now hides a red light for Liliana and a green light for his granddaughter," Fitts explained.
And those two smaller lights do not come down.
"I do not take those down," Fitts stated.
However, he does take down the other multi-colored lights that mysteriously appear at a rate he expects to be 3-4 time faster this year.
"Oh my gosh, if I didn't take the color bulbs out, I would say in about four weeks, we would be half-clear, half-colored bulbs. It would be a very colorful Nights of Lights," Fitts laughed.
The mystery lights make him work a little harder, but he said no harm is done.
"It makes it fun," he said, smiling. "It keeps me on my toes!"