Photo by Jennifer CuringtonA crew from Austin Energy carefully hangs the bulbs from the top of the tower.
Colorful light bulbs made their way up a 155-foot-tall moonlight tower Nov. 13 in Zilker Park.
An Austin Energy crew is turning the park's moontower into the Zilker Holiday Tree for the 48th year in a row. The holiday tree will be illuminated Nov. 30 and remain lit each day after from 6 p.m. till midnight through the end of the year.
The moontower used to create the tree is one of just 17 remaining in Austin. The city originally had 31 operational towers when they were first purchased just before the turn of the 20th century. At the time, moontowers were a popular method of urban lighting for cities along roads and in neighborhood areas, Carlos Cordova with Austin Energy said.
Austin City Council decided Nov. 6 to hire Enertech LLC to restore the remaining moontowers during the next three years, with five towers a year scheduled to receive repairs. The last major restoration efforts took place from 1993–95.
