Giant Advent Calendar Lights Downtown, Honoring Jacksonville Industry

On November 29, 2025 Farmers State Bank and Trust Co. illuminated a large Advent calendar on the east facade of its downtown building, creating a nightly focal point for holiday activity. The installation uses the building's 110 foot tall face, arranged in six rows of four windows to form 24 panels that were revealed day by day through Christmas. The 2025 theme centers on Jacksonville's industrial past in recognition of the city's 200th anniversary, linking the seasonal display to local history and civic commemoration.

Project leadership came from designer Steve Varble working with bank executive Elizabeth Becker, who oversaw planning and decisions about window placement and how the display would integrate with downtown sight lines. The calendar was placed to face the downtown square deliberately, situating a private institution's facade within public view and tying the bank's seasonal offering to broader downtown holiday programming.

The installation carries implications for municipal planning and downtown economic development. As a private funded public facing display, the Advent calendar illustrates how local institutions can contribute to public space activation without direct municipal expenditure. That arrangement raises questions for city officials about coordination, permitting, maintenance responsibilities, and how such displays complement or compete with city organized events. For small businesses and cultural organizers, the calendar provided an additional reason for foot traffic during the holiday season and a thematic anchor for window decorations and related programming.

Civic significance extends beyond commerce. By theming the 2025 display on industrial history, the project connected a festive tradition to Jacksonville's bicentennial narrative, offering an accessible moment of public memory and local identity formation. The bank's choice to place the installation on the downtown facing facade made it visible to residents and visitors attending downtown events, and it reinforced the square as a civic gathering place during the holidays.

Looking ahead, the calendar model offers a template for future private public collaborations around downtown activation, while prompting officials and community leaders to clarify roles, expectations, and opportunities for equitable civic participation in public space.