It was the Night the Lights Went Out in Escanaba.
The stadium lights went out Friday night as the Escanaba High School football team played Marquette in its Homecoming football team. City crews tried to fix the problem, but to no avail, and after the first half was played in darkening conditions, the game was stopped at halftime and was finished on Saturday.
The Homecoming activities were done in pitch dark conditions, with emergency vehicles lining the field with their bright headlights on.
Students were encouraged to raise their cell phone lights.
The lights in question are owned by the Escanaba Schools, not the city.
What happened? Escanaba Superintendent Coby Fletcher.
“Of course, we have two banks of lights, one on the east side, and one on the west side,” Fletcher told RRN News. “They’re connected via a splice in the line. We think the issue may be at the splice. So, it’s possible that we’ll go in and run two separate lines, instead of having a splice, and that will tell us whether or not we’ve solved the issue.”
He says the stadium lights date back to the 1980’s, and the “splice” in question dates back 15 years.
Fletcher says they don’t know yet how much it will cost to make the repairs, and he says the City of Escanaba has been very helpful in trying to fix the issue. They plan to have the lights working again in time for the October 11th home football game.
