With the turn of the new year approaching, the window to experience the Valley’s festive light displays is beginning to close. While the region remains illuminated for now, several premier installations are scheduled to conclude their 2025 seasons between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Area residents are encouraged to take a final seasonal drive to admire the vibrant local displays before they are dismantled.
Lights on Montague Street, Turners Falls
Last show: Dec. 25, 5-8:30 p.m.
In Montague, two houses on opposite sides of the street mirror each other with a dazzling LED (light-emitting diode) light show synchronized to music on 89.7 FM.
Neighbors Josh Haskins and John Billings do everything together — including syncing their holiday lights.
As a welder, Haskins created stands to hold matrices of LED lights that could project images of Marvel characters accompanied by a Marvel-ous song. While Haskins and Billings spoke to the Gazette, cars lined up to tune in.
Billings learned how to create complex sequences controlled by Wi-Fi by watching YouTube. It takes him 50 hours to program the lights for a two-minute song, so he and Haskins start planning their hour-long Christmas show in January. He declined to comment on costs, but according to the U.S. Department of Energy, LED lights use up to 90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.
“I get joy in seeing the lights,” said Haskins. “There’s times where John will sit in his truck, and I’ll sit in my truck, and we’ll just watch.”
19 W. Summit St., South Hadley
Last show: Dec. 27, 5-10 p.m.
On the same night over in South Hadley, the Gazette joined a caravan in front of John Breen’s house, where a lively LED light show synced with music and video. While “Defying Gravity” played on 89.5 FM radio, Elphaba soared through the sky on her “Wicked” broom. Behind a garage window, a projection of Santa paced back and forth, peering at kids putting their lists in a mailbox at the end of the driveway — and adults slipping cash into a donation box for Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a food pantry in South Hadley.
When this newspaper spoke to Breen, people were rolling down their car windows and cheering.
“‘Wicked’ is the best song for the lights,” he quipped. “It’s wicked good.”
After Breen bought his first house in Springfield, he decided to decorate.
When asked if there was a difference between decorating and the “gravity-defying” production on his lawn, Breen laughed and conceded. “Yeah, it’s a show,” he said. “And that’s me, I love the show. I wanted them to see something special.”
Using a free sequencing program called xLights, he created a 35-minute presentation. He also had some static displays, like a 4×4 driven by a reindeer, which currently costs $2,495. (He paid a fraction of that years ago.) He saved money by building his own control boxes, which regulate power and brightness. “Every controller costs like $300,” he said. “I probably have 15.”
Ultimately, it’s an investment in the community.
“People tell me it’s their tradition to come to this house and see the lights,” he said.
63 Strong St., Easthampton
Last show: Jan. 1, 5-8 p.m.
There is a hidden gem in Easthampton, concealed by a wall of pine trees on Strong Street next to the playground, where John Losito has created a one-and-a-half acre, one-of-a-kind “Winter Wonderland.” Losito possesses an insatiable appetite for the festive glow of holiday lights. In fact, he leaves them on all year, often wandering the circular path around the perimeter of his property, dreaming up new displays.
When the Gazette visited Losito, he opened with an apology. “I’m usually wearing a big red suit with flames on the bottom and a crazy Dr. Seuss hat,” he said, explaining that he had a business meeting later that evening.
Losito grew up in Feeding Hills with parents who indulged his decorative spirit. When he moved to Easthampton, he started stringing lights on the fence around an old horse stable on his property — and just kept going.
The snow crunched beneath his feet as this newspaper followed him through fog-filled bubbles tripped by a motion sensor. He slipped and slid his way down a sledding hill to a meadow bisected by a bedazzled brook.
“I treat this almost like a painting,” he said as we walked through a rainbow tunnel of lights.
Losito declined to comment on costs, but noted that donations help fund new lights, a hefty electricity bill and liability insurance.
“A lot of folks come through,” he said. “My favorite is the multigenerational thing when it’s the grandparents and the parents and the kids;” marveling at the magic all at once.
19 Bulkley St., Turners Falls
Display up until Jan. 1
As a child, Joseph Kochen looked forward to the annual “blowup battles” between neighbors competing for the most extravagant holiday display. Today, the 23-year-old has brought that competitive spirit to his own lawn, installing a collection of 115 inflatables this season, highlighted by a whimsical display featuring Santa in an outhouse.
“I started it because I liked it,” he said. “But everyone else likes it, too, and they expect it every year.”
Paradise Copies, 21 Conz St., Northampton
Lights on until early January
Paradise Copies lives up to its name during the holidays, when owner Carol MacColl has the place decked out in Caribbean-style LED lights. It’s all thanks to Craig Stevens, the owner of LandScapes, a local landscaping company, who has strung up her Christmas lights since 2008.
“I think it’s a great gateway-to-the-city look,” she said.
295 Loudville Road, Easthampton
Lights on until Jan. 6
For decades, Sara Dukette Sikop has carried on a tradition started by her grandmother in Westfield, who decorated her house “like a mini-Christmas store.” Now, Sikop lives in Easthampton and has grandchildren of her own.
“I give what I got growing up,” she said. “It brings joy to everybody.”