The bright lights on Friday night now look a little different in Wimberley, Texas.

WIMBERLEY, Texas — It's a Texas tradition: the bright lights of Friday night football.

But in Wimberely, those lights are now a little different. The school district wants to make sure people can see the stars not just on the field, but also in the sky.

"We're really glad that when people come to Wimberley, we do have a beautiful night sky of them to see. They can enjoy the Milky Way, they can lay back and enjoy the stars," said Deyanira Romo Rossell with Wimberley ISD.

The district installed new lights over the summer that limit blue light emissions and have shields to help only shine light on the field.

"Everybody benefits from being able to see the stars," said Cathy Moreman, the executive director of the Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The International Dark Sky Association officially designated the area as a dark sky community earlier this year. There are 20 in the world, three of them in Texas, including Dripping Springs and Horseshoe Bay.

"The stars have been inspiration for art and for people in general for literature, all of the world for eons," said Moreman. "As communities grow and the light pollution grows, there is less and less of an opportunity to look up and enjoy the stars and be inspired by them."

According to Moreman, the designation was a two-year process.

"We had to take measurements of the night sky with a dark sky meter," said Shannon du Plessis, the chairman of the Wimberley Valley Dark Sky Committee.

According to her, on a scale of one to 10 -- 10 being the darkest sky possible -- the area measured at a nine.

"We're in Texas, we're all about our wide-open spaces, so of course we want to be able to see the stars here and hope other places take notice of what we're doing and do the same thing," said du Plessis.

They made sure city lights emit more orange than blue light, encouraged residents to turn off or shield their lights at night, and even passed new ordinances in Wimberley and Woodcreek to regulate the brightness of outdoor lights.

"We're just very, very grateful to have the cooperation of both cities," said du Plessis.

The district paid for the lights with money from the $45 million bond voters passed earlier this year.

"We can say thank you to our community for supporting us and for making sure we do preserve the night sky in Wimberley, preserve and protect it," said Romo Rossell.

They also say it should save money in the long run.

"Our lights date back to the 1980s and it took a lift, renting a lift truck, to be able to replace just one bulb, and then the bulbs are getting harder and harder to find, so being able to do this will save us a lot of money," said Romo Rossell.

"To have this in a place where so many people congregate and celebrate, to have it night-sky friendly is is just huge for our cause," added Moreman.

"It's all about protecting the night sky and of course getting a big ole win," said Romo Rossell.