Lighting Up the Fargo Theatre with Incandescent Bulbs

The Fargo Theatre in Downtown Fargo, North Dakota

Behind-the-scenes of the iconic Fargo Theatre marquee

The glittering Fargo Theatre marquee is the first thing anyone notices when entering downtown Fargo, North Dakota.

With over 900 twinkling lights, the Fargo Theatre marquee stands as a beacon, a gathering point, and a centerpiece of the Fargo-Moorhead community. You see it in postcards, posters, paintings, and more — in fact, according to the Fargo Forum, it’s the most photographed place in the city.

What you might not know is that those twinkling lightbulbs you see on your favorite marquee are supplied by GoodBulb! As a Fargo-based company with a team that calls Fargo-Moorhead home, this project is near and dear to our hearts. We’re proud to supply lightbulbs to keep our community beacon shining — both outside and in!

From 1920 to 2020

As Fargo Theatre staff shared in a wonderfully informative video last week, the marquee is not the original. The Fargo Theatre, an art-deco movie theatre built in 1926, went through a complete refurbishment in the late 1990s. A replica of the marquee was built at this time and was lit for the first time on New Year’s Eve in 1998.

Adam Roder, Technical Director at the Fargo Theatre, has the unique and challenging job of maintaining the lightbulbs of the gorgeous marquee.

“This is a frequent task, as there are over 900 individual incandescent bulbs on the marquee,” he said. “We won't use LED, so there are some burning out almost every week.”

Uffda! Nothing pains us more than burned-out light bulbs. It’s a privilege to dazzle downtown Fargo night after night. That’s why we keep the marquee burning bright with incandescent bulbs that are still available today.

Take a look:

 

The inside of the theater has its own dazzling light display. The art-deco style of the curving yellow “light fountains” and neon blue and pink stripes transport attendees back to the 1920s.

For interior theater lighting, we use antique filament LED light bulbs and LED Par spotlight lightbulbs. I'm looking forward to the day when we can provide Clear S14 LED that flickers and sparkles in the same fashion as incandescent.