About Roanoke Star
Roanoke’s most recognizable landmark began as an enormous seasonal advertisement that nobody ever bothered to remove. The Roanoke Star rises 88.5 feet above Mill Mountain and glows every night from a structure originally built to promote the 1949 holiday shopping season.
The star was sponsored by the Roanoke Merchants Association and designed and built by Roy C. Kinsey of Kinsey Sign Company with his sons. It was first illuminated on November 23, 1949. What was intended to attract attention during the holidays became so popular that the city kept it.
The structure is actually made from three nested stars formed by roughly 2,000 feet of neon tubing. The star itself weighs about 10,000 pounds and can be seen from the air from dozens of miles away. Its lighting is primarily white today, although different color combinations can be used for special occasions.
Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge describes it as the world’s largest free-standing, man-made illuminated star. Whatever category is used, the history remains wonderfully simple. Roanoke installed a gigantic glowing holiday decoration on a mountain in 1949, and more than seven decades later it is still there.