DIXFIELD — Dirigo High School’s Harlow Field has lights.

A giant crane lifted into place four 70-foot light posts on Wednesday afternoon, the result of a local fundraising campaign. Each post weighed 1,600 pounds.

Utility Services & Assistance of Hooksett, N.H., was contracted for the installation. The light posts have a foundation that extends 12 feet into the ground and are set upon a 24-square-foot concrete base.

The installation of the light post foundations was one of the easiest done by Utility Services, Tom Skuffington, owner of the company, said, because the soil was soft and free of rocks.

A Bancroft Construction Services crane set the light posts on the existing 8-foot high base posts. The whole operation of erecting the four giant light posts took less than 90 minutes from start to finish.

“The Dirigo High School football team will now be able to play home games under lights next fall,” Scott Holmes, chairman of the Dirigo-Harlow Field Lighting Committee, said. The lights will benefit other Dirigo sports teams as well, he said.

Maine high schools that have gotten lights for their football fields have seen an average of a three-fold increase in gate and concession stand revenues, Holmes said.

The lights, which cost an estimated $90,000 to $100,000, were totally paid for by benefactors such as Irving Forest Products and the Ione Harlow Fund as well as various community fundraisers, Holmes said.

“There were no taxpayer funds used in the purchase and installation of these lights,” Holmes said. “We also had regular meetings with the immediate neighbors of Harlow Field to hear their concerns.”

“We have made sure there will be no light spillover onto their properties from the lighting system.”

“The lighting system also has a 25-year warranty,” Holmes said, “which covers any burned-out bulbs and future maintenance.”

“Musco, the manufacturer of the field’s lights, will be able to monitor the lights from their operation plant,” Holmes said, “and will be able to remedy problems immediately.”

“I think the support of the Dirigo athletic community and the community at large has been outstanding,” said Mark Thompson, who oversaw the logistical operations of the light installation at Harlow Field for the Campaign for Harlow Field Lights. “Today’s installation is the icing on the cake.”

Community members are invited to a BYOS, Bring Your Own Shovels, event on July 9 at Harlow Field when the field will have trenches dug to lay out the electrical cables to each of the four posts.

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