Two Stillwater natives teamed up to bring joy and hope to the community by lighting up Downtown Stillwater . Shannon Williams and Alane Zannotti , founders of Merry Main Street , established Merry Main Street in 2019 and continued the tradition in 2020 while keeping safety in mind .

“ We can still provide something that will give

people a smile and remind them that this time of year is to be excited and hopeful ,” Zannotti said . “ And lights just do that .”

The lightswitch flipped Saturday , Nov . 14 . The focus was to light up early to catch Okla- homa State University students before

they left for the holidays . The goal was to give them a happy send off and remind them ‘ Stillwater is going to miss you , Happy Holidays and be safe .’

The 85,000 light display spanned from Fourth Street , beyond the roundabout , to 14th Street . Chris Salmon Plaza and ProValue . Net housed the 40-minute main attraction display of lights . To match the dancing display of lights with the music , viewers tuned their radio to 87.9 FM . Downtown businesses also decorated their windows with lights to help downtown shine .

The inspiration came from the tree on top

of the ProValue . Net building last year . Williams and Zannotti knew what they wanted ,

had the vision and passion for the lights , but

Drew Beverage , ProValue . Net Vice President of Business Development , and Will

Clay , Global Innovation Platform IoT Solutions Architect & Merry Main Street light programmer , brought the idea to life .

Beverage said the ProValue . Net team did all the networking and internet

interfacing for the light display . The power source came from the tower on top of the ProValue . Net building and connected 36 different devices down Main Street to light up downtown . Clay tied it all back to the controller at ProValue . Net to sync it all together .

Beverage said Clay is the mastermind behind the lights and the lights are his hobby . The lights took 10 hours per one minute of programming . Every single light has to be told what to do and each one individually programmed , making each light unique .

“ I think this is a great opportunity for us to give back and bring some hope ,” Beverage said . “ With everyone coming together , it is a really cool project .”

The goal of Merry Main Street was not only to bring hope to the community , but to also shop local . The domes last year helped new vendors who didn ’ t have brick and mortar stores gain exposure to the community . Some businesses ended up opening a storefront after their success with the domes . Twisted Horn was one of the domes turned brick and mortar .

Unfortunately , due to restrictions this year , there were no domes so the vendor and event aspect did not happen . Williams said she hopes next year they can add the lights , Block 34 and the domes to put everything together .

Partners for Merry Main Street include Visit Stillwater , Downtown merchants , ProValue . Net , Will Clay , the City of Stillwater and Collett Campell with the Reverse Parade .

Story by Kegan Herrick