Thousands of people strolled a five-block area of downtown Phoenix Saturday night in near darkness.

They did so in the midst of several bigtime events, including a concert at the Phoenix Symphony, a Diamondbacks exhibition game at Chase Field and a trickled out crowd from the NCAA Elite eight basketball game at U.S. Airways Center.

At 8 p.m. marquee signs flickered out and high-rise building logos went black as Phoenix took part in Earth Hour, a worldwide event promoting energy conservation.

Through 9 p.m. city governments, businesses and residents in different time zones across the planet participated in the blackout. Phoenix was the flagship city representing the U.S.'s Mountain Time zone.

"I'm not just turning my lights off for an hour, this is just a kickoff event. It's something I hope to continue to do throughout the year," said Terry Madeksza a Phoenix resident that helped coordinate the city's participation.

Madeksza spent the evening at Stoudemire's restaurant across from U.S. Airways Center. The venue's owner Bill Smith turned out all lights, lit candles and handed customers glow sticks to celebrate.

Another diner at the restaurant was Jami Vallelonga, a real estate manager with broker CB Richard Ellis that manages the Bank of America tower.

Allelonga said an email went out to all property managers at her firm encouraging each to turn the lights and logo signs off at their respective buildings. Though streetlights, stoplights and emergency lights created somewhat of a glow downtown, the blackout was still noticeable. The Hyatt, Wells Fargo, Chase and U.S. Bank buildings all had their lights and signs off along with the Bank of America tower.


Author: Erin Zlomek
Source: The Arizona Republic