For nine years now, since the fall of 2012, residents of The Village neighbourhood of NOTL have taken it upon themselves to make the holiday season a little bit brighter.

And considering the unusual circumstances in 2020 – COVID anyone? – there's an extra effort to increase the wattage this year.

Usually, in late autumn, a group of friends, neighbours and volunteers start to organize the annual holiday display.

First is a check of more than 250 strings of lights, all of which worked when they came down last January, but-for some reason-reveal some faults out of the boxes in the fall.

After replacements are provided, neighbourhood teams organize and have two weeks to decorate their trees and lampposts.

In all, the numbers are impressive: 12 volunteer teams, more than 30 neighbours joining in to help, 80 trees, almost 30 lampposts, probably 20,000 lights, plus lots of community involvement and fun.

“Everybody in the neighbourhood seems to love and look forward to the decorations going up, and I have noticed that in the days leading up to the lights turning on, residents are busy decorating their own homes as well. Everyone wants to do their part,” said Village resident Dale DesIslets.

“I think it would be great if other neighbourhoods in town took up the challenge to do the same thing and go all out to make their streets as bright and festive as possible, especially in times like these.”

“I can’t count the number of people who have stopped and thanked our teams while they were putting up lights. Some even offered us a beer. It’s just a great community event,” DesIslets said.

The Village lights will shine from Nov. 29, every evening until mid-January and – weather permitting – will be augmented by a one-evening-only display of candle lumieres on Dec. 23.

This display effort won an award from the Niagara Biennial Design Awards recently, among many others for the Niagara region. The residents are  very proud of this and happy to do their part to keep the lights shining during this difficult time.