As former Roanoke mayor Nelson Harris noted, the world’s largest manmade neon star first started shining in 1949. On a blustery day like the one that greeted its first glow, he related the star’s history to the 50 or so folks on hand. Business groups put up the 85-foot-tall bauble with 2000 feet of neon tubing to mark the holiday shopping season, Harris said.
"Now I'd have to say to you it was not unanimously well received," Harris said Saturday. "A lot of people thought it would be tacky."
Some also thought it was just a temporary symbol and would be taken down like other holiday lights.
"It was only going to be up here for a month or two, just as a marketing campaign for the merchants' association and downtown retailers," Harris noted. "But it endeared itself so quickly to the hearts and the minds and the spirits of Roanokers that the idea of it just being taken down and being a temporary structure evaporated fairly quickly. And here we are, 75 years later."
It has endured and endeared itself to generations of Roanoke families, according to current mayor Sherman Lea.
"The star is more than just a landmark, though. It has become a part of our identity and a symbol of the unity that makes our community so special," Lea said.
Roanoke resident Scott Polhamus is among many travelers who have the same feeling once they’re back in town.
"I'll tell you growing up as a kid, Polhamus remembered, "whenever we'd be taking trips, coming down (Interstate) 81 back home when I saw the star, I knew I was home."
Home to the name that this light on a hill gave to Roanoke 75 years ago, the Star City of the South.