On Friday, Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, announced that the first phase of the Riverwalk Illumination Project has been installed just in time for this weekend’s 2019 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in downtown Jamestown. He said residents and visitors will be treated to a sneak peek of the lighting of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities coal silo. Colored light and simple geographic designs will illuminate the silo at night during the duration of the festival, with a more refined illumination and design to be completed during the next several weeks.

The Riverwalk Illumination Project is one component of the Enhance the Riverwalk Experience program as part of the state’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant to the city of Jamestown. The program was selected for funding in the amount of $325,000 and is administered through the state Department of State.

The Riverwalk Illumination Project will use light to create a unique and vibrant riverfront attraction in downtown Jamestown that will improve visual aesthetics along the Riverwalk, enhance the pedestrian experience at night, compliment the National Comedy Center and downtown central business district and activate the waterfront as an evening destination.

Other priorities for this project will be to light the piers on the Washington Street Bridge as well as the facade of the South Main Street Bridge. Final design for the lighting of the bridges is expected to be completed later this year, with a spring 2020 installation.

In February, Jamestown Urban Renewal Association accepted a bid from Clark Patterson Lee of $31,620 for the designing, planning and engineering of the Riverwak Illumination Project.

The DRI Enhance the Riverwalk Experience program funding will also go toward the construction of kayak and canoe launches at McCrea Point Park and to complete a floating debris collection system around the Warner Dam.