The "Color My World - BRITE" Story

It was an ordinary day. Local newspaper arrived and on the front is a story about "House hues brighten city." Fills almost half of the front page. Must be BIG news to the city of Lancaster and the surrounding community. Tells about 'Homeowners getting bold, creative with their color picks.' There on the front page are houses in ORANGE, PURPLE, AQUA, and ELECTRIC BLUE. On another page is a house in BRITE RED. Wow! People call it Smurf factory. You can't miss them. I'm used to all the bright colors, since my wife and I travel to the Caribbean all the time, but to paint your house in conservative Lancaster, home of the Pennsylvania Amish, is almost ....... well sacrilege. I remember when I was young, say about 50 or 60 years ago, and someone would paint the bricks on their house a deep, dark red color, someone would tell them they better be careful, since they were ruining the property value of the neighborhood. The same people must be turning over in their graves after seeing the front page of the paper today. I actually told my wife that I would like to paint our house a BRITE ORANGE or YELLOW, as in the Caribbean. She just laughed at me!! The neighbors wouldn't ever talk to me again. Why the change all of a sudden? Seems the colonial hues that covered Lancaster since the Revolutionary days is going by the wayside. People are struggling financially and to brighten their day and feel more cheerful, they paint their house a bright color. The mayor of Lancaster who is my age says, "It's sort of funky." But, as of now, no one in his city neighborhood has colored their house with a funky color. Will he still like it when they do, and you know it's coming. I guess it's a whole new generation of city dwellers living in Lancaster now and they love the bright colors. Can't say I blame them. For me ...... all I need is an ocean or sea close by, and I'll feel like I'm on vacation. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - I have included a few of the photos from the newspaper and a few comparison photos from a few Caribbean islands for you to compare.

The first four photos are of houses and a business in the city of Lancaster, PA

Row home at 456 S. Queen St. Everyone entering the city from the south passes this colorful place.

Row home at 333 Beaver St. in the south end of the city.

House at 314 N. Mary St.

Hildy's Tavern at North Mary and Frederick St. on the north side of the city.

Shops and houses painted brightly in the Caribbean

Colorful decorated shops in St. Martin.

A few colorful places in Barbados.

And a few more from Barbados.

And the ultimate row of brightly colored houses is found in Curacao.