Big buildings invest in cheer for jolly holiday season

Deck the halls.

Deck the buildings.

Deck the rooftop.Hit the lights.

The Reno and Sparks skylines brilliant enough yearround light up even more extravagantly for the holidays.

And that holiday finery does not come cheap.

"But it sure is fun," says Steven Trounday, Reno Hilton vice president of marketing.

The Hilton is wrapped in a bow of red and green lights for the holidays.

It's designed to look like a package, says Trounday and will stay lit until Dec.

27.

Floodlight gels - 130 of them - create the effect.

It's an investment, says Trounday, of a one-time cost of about $10,000 for the floodlight frames and gels, plus ongoing labor.

Every time the lights change, the Hilton invests labor costs of two workers at one-half day each.

For a few of those lights, the workers climb through Trounday's office window, he says.

They get to the rest of them via standard roof access all part of the fun and of the young (just one-year-old) tradition of whimsical lights at the Reno Hilton.

Downtown Reno's tree set atop the town's famous skyline is the Eldorado's creation, a building topper that has been the casino's tradition since 1990.

It takes 5,000 lights to create the 54-foothigh tree every year, says Julia Peaua, Eldorado's publicist.And a helicopter.

Cost comes in at more than $25,000, and the annual construction costs tap into the staff 's engineering expertise as well.

Is it worth it? "It's beautiful," says Peaua.

"And definitely gets you in the mood for the season."

The holiday tradition at John Ascuaga's Nugget began in 1993 with a 50-foot tree of lights decorating the rooftop of its east tower.

In 1996, it added a second tree, festooning the west tower roof.

To create the illusion of a tree, says Frankie Vigil, public relations manager for John Ascuaga's Nugget, the casino strings 2,500 lights for each tree, at a cost of about $600 each, after an original investment of about $6,000 each.

The position of the trees, mounted on top of the 29-floor towers,makes them a holiday landmark - that, and adding holiday cheer for commuters along the Interstate 80 corridor, is the Nugget's return on investment.