1. INSIDE OUT:
HOW THE CAPITOL’S
HOLIDAY LIGHTS SHINE

2. For more than 30
years, Capitol workers have
scaled the dome every
November to string lights
celebrating the holiday
season.

3. From start to finish, it takes
eight electricians about three
hours to hoist 12 strands of
lights with roughly 270 lights
total.

4. Michelle Pawlak pauses as workers climb the internal
staircase in the air gap between the ceiling of the
rotunda and the exterior walls to access the roof and
dome of the Capitol.

5. Terry Agans
readies a pulley
that will be used
to hoist the
lights.

6. Pawlak and Agans set up a custom-built bar and roller
that keeps each strand suspended away from the walls of
the dome preventing tangling or breaking.

7. Agans throws a rope to the upper platform of
the dome. The rope will be used to pull the
lights up from a lower part of the roof.

8. The rope is guided through a pulley.

9. Gary Shepard prepares to pull up the lights.

10. Kevin Hill and
Matt Gillock
hoist the lights.

11. These aren’t your typical Christmas tree lights,
these strands take 130-volt bulbs.

12. A finished string of lights hangs from the dome.

13. A view up
the ladder
leading to
the dome’s
flag pole: the
top of the
flag is 409
feet above
street level.

14. Agans looks out from the top of the rotunda.

15. The Capitol lights as seen from Capitol Avenue.

16. Under the Dome.

17. Happy Holidays!
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