Vallen Szabo remembers the first time she really noticed the desert stars.

It happened shortly after she moved to Borrego Springs 30 years ago. She had lived in Los Angeles and New York, where you can see skylines, but little sky.

“My first experience with it was sitting out in front of my parents’ house in their hot tub, looking up at the sky, and wondering what was up with that swath of clouds,” she said. There hadn’t been any clouds in the sky that day.

“Then it dawned on me,” Szabo said. “It was the Milky Way. I tell that story to people all the time. If you want to see the Milky Way or the best moon viewing, this is the place to be.”


Later this year, the desert community of Borrego Springs will celebrate the 10th anniversary of being designated a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). It is the first community in California to win the honor and remains the only one in the state.

There are just 22 Dark Sky Communities worldwide, but Borrego Springs is alone in being located so close to huge population bases, such as Los Angeles and San Diego.

Metal sculptures of horses, one of many sculptures in the Borrego Springs area, under the moonlight on Thursday, July 11, 2019 in Borrego Springs, California. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“To have a community so close to such large urban centers and accessible to so many people within a relatively short drive is something that is unique and serves as a place where urban residents can connect to the night sky,” said Adam Dalton, the Dark Sky Places program manager for the IDA


As defined by the IDA, a Dark Sky Community is a town, city, municipality or other legally organized community that has shown “exceptional dedication to the preservation of the night sky through the implementation and enforcement of a quality outdoor lighting ordinance, dark sky education and citizen support of dark skies.”

And the people of Borrego Springs take it seriously. Last month, a regular meeting of the Borrego Springs Dark Sky Coalition took place with some members Skyping from summer homes in such far-flung places as Ireland, Germany and New York.

They met for 90 minutes, discussing in detail plans to conduct another survey of the community to make sure everyone’s outdoor lights are properly shielded, and to review a few complaints received about lights shining a bit too brightly at one place or another.

They spent a good amount of time discussing a new, small LED sign that is going to be placed in front of the recently renovated Borrego Performing Arts Center. The directors of the center had sent the specifications for lighting developed by the IDA to the sign manufacturer who had assured them they could meet the dark sky parameters. But the group sort of obsessed for quite some time, worried about its size, height, hours of operation and whether one LED sign might lead to more in the town’s future.


They also talked about a new flier that will be sent later this year to residents reminding them to keep the lights low so the stars can shine bright.

And, when asked, they reflected a bit on why they think dark skies are important.

“I think it’s our connection to the universe,” said coalition member and retired optometrist Randy Baron. “We can’t lose that sense of awe and sense of our place in the universe. To have people living under a blanket of electromagnetic fog that prevents them from seeing that universe is wrong. And it’s a needless electromagnetic fog. People can be safe and have good lighting just as we’re doing.”

“When we look up at the stars we realize how our problems and our issues are minimized in proportion to the universe,” added Betsy Knaack, the coalition’s president.


Carlee’s, Borrego Springs’ local bar, on Thursday evening, July 11, 2019 in Borrego Springs, California. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“There is a comforting feeling we get when we look up and realize our insignificance. How would you like not to be able to do that?”

Coalition member Eli Hanks said she remembered going to a stargazing event years ago in the desert and starting to cry. “It was overwhelming,” she said. “It’s very spiritual here. It’s amazing.”

According to the IDA, researchers continue to probe the connection between darkness and health, and evidence now links light pollution with negative impacts on the human immune system, behavioral changes in animals, and decreased plant growth.


Baron said having dark skies everywhere is doable. “I think it’s very sad when people lose that connection to the universe that we are exploring every day with our science and yet people can no longer see the stars at night.”

The Dark Sky designation has been good for the town’s economy. Astronomy buffs from all over the world come to Borrego Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which surrounds the community of about 3,000 people.

The state park regularly holds stargazing events, many of the resorts offer star-viewing party packages, and entrepreneurs with astronomy backgrounds offer popular “celestial tours.”

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest of California’s parks at 630,000 acres, has recently also been designated a Dark Sky Park by the IDA. That happened in 2018, making the entire region one of the largest Dark Sky areas anywhere. Anza-Borrego is in good company. The only other Dark Sky Parks in California are Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks.


Dalton said Borrego Springs has really embraced the Dark Sky concept and the association has been able to persuade the entire town, including the businesses, to comply with proper lighting.

“Borrego Springs has done some fantastic work with dark skies,” Dalton said. It’s a great model of how dark sky parks and dark sky communities can work together to protect in a regional sort of way.”

And there is movement in the Julian area to earn a similar designation.

Doug Sollesy, who is helping organize Julian’s Dark Sky bid, said discussions are taking place with the county to design lighting ordinances that would qualify for dark sky designation while still allowing the businesses in the mountain town west of Borrego to thrive.


“I think one of the things about Borrego Springs being a Dark Sky Community shows that you can have a community with a fairly significant business district and activities and amenities and still be compatible with natural darkness. That’s how we look at Julian, too,” Sollesy said.