For families whose holiday tradition includes a candlelit walk through Besh Ba Gowah Archaeological Park and Museum in Globe, this December will be missing a familiar glow. The Festival of Lights has been canceled while the museum undergoes extensive repairs following an August plumbing failure.
The museum will be closed for up to six months, depending on what restoration crews find behind the walls, according to Travis Ashbaugh, the city's assistant public works director.
The damage began Aug. 18, when a filter attached to a water heater failed after staff had left for the evening. The water reached depths of two to four inches before the problem was discovered.
Museum manager Leana McGill said the artifacts were not damaged, although some exhibit cases were compromised.
Construction materials, dumpsters and storage containers will occupy the area normally used for the festival’s stage and vendors, making it unsafe to hold the Festival of Lights this year.
Besh Ba Gowah, located on Jesse Hayes Road about a mile southwest of downtown Globe, is the site of a partially reconstructed Salado pueblo occupied between approximately 1225 and 1400 A.D.
Its museum displays pottery, stone tools and woven objects recovered from the site, offering a glimpse of life centuries before Globe’s founding.
For more than three decades, the Festival of Lights has brought that ancient setting into the community’s holiday celebrations. The free event features thousands of luminarias — paper bags holding lit candles — placed along the pueblo walls, pathways and windowsills by volunteers. After sunset, the luminarias bathe the ancient pueblo in a magical glow.
The festival also offers Native American cultural presentations and food and merchandise vendors. It’s usually held on the evening of the first Saturday of December and draws hundreds of visitors.
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