![\"Bethlehem](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/7c84c62\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4200x2362+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2F1b%2F5d90b79e4623b79245394b8ee4f6%2Fbethlehem-star-scenic.JPG\")
<\/p>\nBETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The Bethlehem star is shining a bit brighter.<\/p>\n
About 900 feet above sea level, the nearly 100-foot-high beacon atop South Mountain now sports 238 brand-new LED bulbs, according to Bethlehem Electrical Bureau Chief Greg Cryder.<\/p>\n
The week of April 21 marked the first bulb replacement in 15 years, Cryder said. <\/p>\n
“When that thing goes on, we wanted \u2018Pow! Look at the Star! Bang!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Electrical Bureau Chief Greg Cryder<\/p>\n
It also was time to clean the bulb interiors, he said, which build up a kind of film over time that affects the sharpness of the lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in really good condition beforehand,\u201d Cryder said. \u201cThere were a few bulbs out, but it was so big and whatever, you didn\u2019t really notice it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is brighter now. When that thing goes on, we wanted \u2018Pow! Look at the star! Bang!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019ll be retired by the time the 100,000-hour bulbs shining from dusk to dawn each day likely will need replacing again.<\/p>\n
A cost, and a savings<\/p>\n
Paid for out of the city\u2019s annual holiday decoration allocations, the bulbs ran $3,332, and renting a 110-foot manlift cost $4,800, Cryder said.<\/p>\n
His team even bumped the wattage from 5.5 watts per bulb up to 7 in the recent switch.<\/p>\n
He said changing from incandescent bulbs to LEDs at the star in 2010 has resulted in a 75% monthly savings on electric bills, so the newest replacement will pay for itself in less than four years.<\/p>\n
The older incandescent bulbs also required a crew and lift to head up the mountain for replacement every other year, he said.<\/p>\n
Cryder gave a shout-out to Public Works Director Michael Alkhal and the rest of the city team involved in the operation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Donna S. Fisher<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
For LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
The Bethlehem star, top right, shines from South Mountain on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Traffic on the Fahy Bridge and Lehigh University are at left. The star recently received an upgrade of 238 LED lights.<\/p>\n
A guiding light<\/p>\n
The star is a reference to the biblical Gospel of Matthew, which says three wise men found their way to Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, for the birth of Jesus Christ by following a bright light in the sky.<\/p>\n
An excerpt from the Bethlehem By Night bus tour by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites says the city star’s five points reference the community\u2019s impacts on music, education, religion, recreation and industry.<\/p>\n
The original star on South Mountain, affixed to wooden boards, went up around 1937 and was a bit smaller, featuring 50-watt lamps arranged in six stripes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s grown in size a couple of times since then.<\/p>\n
A Morning Call newspaper clipping from Dec. 16, 1939, highlighting a ceremony for the star, said a $5,000 upgrade included a new steel frame. <\/p>\n
Marion Brown Grace, wife of then-president of Bethlehem Steel Corp. Eugene Grace, flipped the lights on for the occasion.<\/p>\n
The clipping says it was \u201csaid to be the tallest individual electrical display in the world\u201d at that time.<\/p>\n
Focal point of Christmas City USA<\/p>\n
The mountaintop star played a key role in Bethlehem\u2019s push to be designated as \u201cChristmas City USA\u201d amid the Great Depression.<\/p>\n
The only time it\u2019s said to have not been shining was a four-year blackout during World War II following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not to be mistaken for the Moravian star \u2014 a 26-pointed figure first presented in the early 19th century to help students of the Moravian Boys\u2019 School in Niesky, Germany, better understand geometry, according to a display at the Whitefield House Museum in Nazareth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The Bethlehem star is shining a bit brighter. About 900 feet above sea level, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,9487,155,154,9488,9489,9490,9491,9492,9493,635],"class_list":["post-12077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-electrical-bureau","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-star","tag-bethlehem-star-new-bulbs","tag-christmas-city-usa","tag-greg-cryder","tag-new-bulbs-at-bethlehem-star","tag-south-mountain","tag-will-oliver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}