Starfish need your help.

No, not just the ones in the ocean. We’re talking about the sea star lighting along Broadway in downtown Seaside.

The iconic lights, which have proved a distinctive seasonal hallmark of the Seaside visitor experience, came to town in the late 1990s.

Members of the Seaside Downtown Development Association are seeking funds to maintain the bulbs and keep them shining bright.

Stephanie Stevenson of the Cotton Club and Rascals announced the fundraiser at the Jan. 23 downtown development association’s breakfast meeting.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 50% of the proceeds from any of the handcrafted drinks — coffee, tea, shakes — at Cafe Latte in the Seaside Carousel Mall, owned by Julie Jesse, will go to starfish bulb replacement.

The lighting is in place along Broadway and Holladay between the third week in September to the third week in May.

Along with the flower basket program, the starfish lighting is one of two beautification projects sponsored by the downtown development association.

“We’ve always done fundraisers for the flower baskets, but never the starfish,” Stevenson said.

Aquarium owner and downtown development association chairman Keith Chandler said the starfish idea first came to the city in 1998. The lights now need replacing. “They just burn out,” he said. “When one loses more than one arm, I restring the whole thing.”

Each string, which loops through the entire starfish, are 30 feet long.

A banner across the intersection of Broadway and Holladay displays the fish, the starfish and the bubbles.

As for real starfish, they are indeed at risk, Chandler said.

“There are not a lot,” he said. “You can find them in the Cove at low tide. Right now, there’s a starfish wasting disease, so there’s less starfish and sea stars than there used to be.”