By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The fifth year of the Crestlights holiday lighting competition had the most entrants and some of the best lighting displays ever. Some homeowners went all out to make their homes enchanting and magical to see and to celebrate the holiday season.
There was a Ferris wheel in motion, there were floating lights projections dancing over homes, there were homes with multi-stories of lights and costumed figures waving to the people. There were inflatables as well as well-known winter figures. Some were religious in focus, others were playful with dancing lights and music. Even Santa Claus was there in a special outdoor setting for the neighborhood children, with refreshments.
Organized by Grayson Lopez, the four judges drove around in two cars on Saturday evening, Dec. 16 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. to see all 32 homes that had been registered. On their way, they saw dozens of unregistered homes and were glad they were near registered homes so those who drove the Crestlights route would see them.
The list of alphabetical list of registered homes was released on Saturday, Dec. 16, enabling those in the community who wanted to enjoy the lights to do so. The judges included organizer Grayson Lopez, Timmy Martinez, chamber board member Dirk Rinker and reporter Rhea-Frances Tetley.
The lights on several homes on Jobs Peak Road and Hartman Circle in Cedarpines Park were spectacular, although only two were registered, but it is worth the drive to see them. The contest covered all of Crestline from Cedarpines Park to Top Town, all of San Moritz, Valley of the Moon and Dart Canyon and Arrowhead Highlands.
Another cluster of lighting spectacular homes was on Finhaut, just off Lake Gregory Drive. Some homes had single-color lights such as blue or gold or silver. Some were red, white and blue and others where the traditional green and red. Most were a combination of all with many having accents of projected scenery and snowflakes and star lights and figurines.
The winning homes often seem to have inspired their neighbors to also light up their homes.
The Crestline winner of the contest was Jeff and Kim Imbraini’s home at 24539 San Moritz Drive, facing Lake Gregory. The home had both daytime vignette displays, three stories of lights up a hillside and live characters greeting the visitors.
Santa and Mrs. Claus greeted visitors at their Darfo Court home surrounded by candy canes. Their house tied for second place.
The contest had such excellent entrants that there was a tie for second place. Steve Gonzalez’ home at 207 Darfo Court has a live Santa with lighted candy canes all around the corner leading to Santa and his tasty candy canes. The homes nearby on Darfo Drive were also nice.
The Wurtz home on Chillon tied for second place.
Tied for second place was the Wurtz home at 960 Chillon off of Arosa which was a blue and purple lighted beauty with a Ferris wheel turning and gently lighting up the dark night sky.
The Renfro house on Knoll Circle was chosen for third place.
In third place, in the Arrowhead Highlands area of town, was the Paige and Jerry Renfro’s home at 24938 Knoll Circle, with traditional holiday design and expertly arranged displays of lights and decorations for day or nighttime viewing. This home is a wonderful sight year after year.
There were dozens of other homes that were also enjoyable to see, some with spectacular displays. Sometimes it is the home’s location that impressed the judges, sometimes it was the difficulty of execution with high roof lines, and other times the story line or theme of a home made the judges’ job difficult. Each display was judged separately in three categories by each judge. Then the scores were added up and the decisions were made.
A Polson Concrete won the Crestlights contest in the commercial category.
In the commercial category, the A Polston Concrete home and business on Lake Drive near Straight Way, across from the gas station, with multiple levels of lights and inflatable figures won first place. Many people in town have been commenting on its cheerfulness and how they are happy when they see this daytime and nighttime display.
Most people will be keeping up their holiday lighting displays through the end of the year, weather permitting, for the enjoyment of the community.
“I am grateful to the community for supporting this holiday lighting event to make the town sparkle for the past five years, and making this year the biggest and best yet,” Lopez said. “I hope it is even better next year as the business district of town gets its planned ‘sparkle on,’ too. Merry Christmas everyone.”
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