✨ The 41st/42nd Avenue boulevard lights are on

As much as anything else, the end of autumn is marked by darkness — partly because daylight savings ends so abruptly; partly because there’s no snow to reflect the moon; and, in large part, because nobody's put up their lights yet.

Well, the lights are up now. All over the neighborhood, the skeletons and inflatable pumpkins are gone, and the colorful string lights are out, hung from eaves and wrapped around railings. And, on the 3300 block of 41st and 42nd Avenues, speared along the length of the boulevard and coiled around the base of every big tree. 

The display is as impressive a feat of civic coordination as it is of festive design. Last night I got a chance to attend the ceremonial first-lighting party and chat with Megan Unger and Nancy Boler, two of the captains who coordinate the many hands needed to make the project happen.