Bollards add ambience to courtyard

Since celebrating their 25th anniversary two years ago, Osceola Chamber-Main Street (OCMS) has been working on a series of lighting improvements to downtown Osceola on and around the courtyard square. The latest addition is that of bollards, which are situated along the inner sidewalks of the east side of the square.

“We did the up and down lighting, the bandstand and this was the next phase,” said OCMS executive director Ashleigh Eckels.

The bollards began to appear last week, installed by Lighthouse Outdoor Lighting, the same company who installed the up-lighting and down-lighting. Standing 42 inches tall, they are situated in-between the benches along the sidewalks on the east side of the courtyard, replacing hosts in about every other spot.

There are 16 bollards currently installed, of which 12 have sponsors. Bollard sponsors - which can be a business, family or individual - will have a customized plaque affixed to their bollard.

The bollards have two design options to choose from - one has a brakeman, and the other a train with an Osceola cutout. The designs were chosen to tie into Osceola’s railroad history, and future projects.

“We hope to tie these bollards in with aspects of the Streetscape project, and tie into the Depot,” said Eckels.

With cutouts on the bollards, light shines through at night. Unlike the other lights around the courtyard, these will stay a consistent, solid color year-round.

“The shadows they cast at night are pretty cool - they’re both attractive in the day, and attractive at night,” said Eckels.

There are more lighting projects to come in future phases. Anyone interested in sponsoring a bollard can contact the OCMS office for more information.