The water tower is an icon of Apex—it appears on postcards, t-shirts, stamps, and stickers. It is painted and photographed on the horizon of the town’s skyline. But how much do you really know about it?
There are three water towers in Apex: The Hunter Street Tower, the Mason Street Tower, and the Tingen Road Tower. Not only do they serve a practical purpose, to store our water supply, they are a symbol of the strong social bonds of our Apex community. The water tower is even categorized as a historical landmark. You may have driven past the tower and noticed the bright, colorful logo, or maybe you saw the red, white, and blue lights illuminating the tower on the Fourth of July. Who are the keepers of the water towers? Who creates the beautiful artwork and charming lighting displays?
We asked town employees for behind-the-scenes info and learned that a new logo was created in the 1970s, in 2016, and in 2020, and that the lighting is controlled remotely and was inspired by a tower in Florida. I spoke with Stacie Galloway, the Town of Apex communications director, to learn about the stages of developing and creating the logo and how the logo has changed over time. I also talked to Eric Neumann, the director of Electric Utilities, to learn more about the origins of the idea for tower lighting and what the process involves.
Stacie Galloway: The Town of Apex owns and maintains three elevated water towers designed to provide adequate water storage and water pressure. We’re currently in the design phase for a fourth water tower, which will be located at Pleasant Park.
When a community lacks natural landmarks, the iconic features for that community tend to be buildings and other man-made structures. In Apex, the water tower is one of those icons, along with the downtown Apex streetscape, and town-owned buildings like The Depot and the Halle Cultural Arts Center.
Suburban Living: How is the design for the logo decided?
Stacie Galloway: Each time the towers are repainted, the town has the opportunity to either keep the current design or opt for something new. Sometime in the 1970s, after the official adoption of ‘The Peak of Good Living’ as the town’s slogan, the towers were painted with the design pictured below. This design was also used on a couple of printed items, like the town’s letterhead and envelopes. But there was no widespread use of this graphic.
That design remained on the tower until 2016, when [the] Town Council directed staff to hold a public contest for a new logo. Around 100 entries were received through that contest, with artists ranging from elementary school students to professional graphic designers. Entries were judged by a committee, with the top five designs presented to [the] Town Council. The winning entry, by Apex resident Dena McMurdie, is the design you currently see on the towers.
The towers are scheduled for maintenance and repainting in 2024, so you’ll see a different design at that time. That design is being discussed now. One option is something being used throughout town already—the logo adopted in 2020 as a result of the community branding study. Learn more about that study at www.apexnc.org/branding.
Suburban Living: What are the materials and medium used to create the logo on the towers?
Stacie Galloway: Over time, weather wears away the paint on a water tower, so our towers are repainted on a regular schedule, every 8-10 years. Tnemec paint is the product used to protect the metal from UV rays and other factors, and ultimately extends the longevity of the structure. The same type of paint is used for the logo.
Suburban Living: Who paints the logo and how long does it take?
Stacie Galloway: The town provides the artwork to our contractor, Utility Service, who specializes in this work. They create a stencil, and then paint onto that stencil. It takes 2-3 days to paint each tower.
Suburban Living: How do you think the water towers contribute to the feeling of community in Apex?
Stacie Galloway: For decades, the water towers have been a part of the Town’s skyline and are often photographed or used in other graphics. Our community branding study, conducted in 2019, showed a strong community connection with the water towers.
The town’s Electric Utilities department installed programmable lighting on the Hunter Street water tower in 2019. The legs, belly, and ‘necklace’ of the tower can all be lit using different colors and effects. The default color is a soft white. But throughout the year, we use various color schemes to commemorate holidays, days of remembrance, observances, and other noteworthy events, of significance to the Apex community. One great example of how [the] community comes together around this icon, is when the tower is lit in the colors of the winning high school as the result of an Apex High School vs. Apex Friendship High School athletic event.
To learn more about the implementation of the tower lighting, continue reading to hear from Eric Neumann, the director of Electric Utilities.
Suburban Living: What is the process for lighting the water towers?
Eric Neumann: After conceiving the idea for the project, we researched other towns’ ordinances on how they manage the lighting of the tower. We pulled that data together and proposed a policy that the town management adopted about 3 years ago. This policy dictates the process for selecting dates, color arrangements and events that qualify for lighting tower. This policy is managed by our communications director, Stacie Galloway, since lighting the tower is a way of communicating with our town’s residents. Most of the time, when the tower is lit with colors, it is usually coupled with some type of communication coordinated via her department. The majority of the lighting events are outlined in that policy document. Occasionally, there are special requests from [the] council [or] mayor for additional events that get vetted through our communications department and if approved, will be forwarded to my staff to design and implement through programming.
Suburban Living: Who is involved in the process?
Eric Neumann: Our communications department coordinates all lighting activities. Once an event is either pre-scheduled, or approved, they will notify my staff and provide date, duration, and color palette (if not already in schedule). My staff will modify the programmed schedule and if a new show is requested, they will work with Communications on that display show.
Suburban Living: I am also curious about the physical process. How long does it take on average? Do you have to manually change the lights with each new display show?
Eric Neumann: The lights are LED and we can open up a program on our computer and create the show. If we just change the color, it would take 10 minutes. If we mess around with the timing and want the colors to dance around, it may take a few hours. After we change programs, we log into the tower controller via bathe web, and push program, which takes about 10 minutes.
Suburban Living: Do you think the water towers are important to the feeling of community in Apex?
Eric Neumann: Since I was the one that proposed the idea about 4 years ago, you can probably guess my answer to this question. Having worked with lighting for many years, I have experienced the power of projects like this to bring something special to a community. As a young kid, I remember the lasting impression I had of a bridge and a water tower that were illuminated on our family trip to Florida. I don’t remember exactly where they were, but my family would drive the same route every time so we would not miss it. My sister and I would always anticipate driving by those sites, and it would bring a smile to our faces [making] that 18-hour trip more enjoyable. My vision was that some of the youth in Apex will someday look back on the many events we hold and recite to their kids the memories they had of the Apex water tower when they were young.
