The great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter isn’t the only light show in town this Christmas. Residents across Yarmouth, and presumably Cape Cod and beyond, have gone to extremes in making their properties merry and bright — with the emphasis on BRIGHT!
Thoroughfares, side streets and cul-de-sacs are ablaze with the colorful glow of lawn ornaments, giant snowmen, and brilliant LED lighting.
“People need this in 2020,” said Adam Long, whose home at 32 Powhatan Road is festooned with hip-high candy canes, snowmen, polar bears, dazzling icicles and colors so bright that passing drivers often slow down to admire the display.
He and his wife, Alicia Wyatt, decorate their home every Christmas, but this year the couple got into the spirit earlier than normal — putting up their lights on Nov. 1 instead of waiting until after Thanksgiving. The first night he lit them up, he said a neighbor came over to thank him for giving people a reason to smile.
“That’s exactly the message I wanted,” Long said.
He’s noticed that more people around town have decorated their homes this season, and others agree.
At Anchor Ace Hardware on Route 28 in South Yarmouth, more customers came in to purchase lights this year than in past seasons, says Matt Tremblay, who handles store deliveries. Anchor Ace had a large inventory of holiday decorations to begin the year, and many of them have been sold, he said. LED strings are especially popular, because they save on electricity and the colors are so vibrant.
Local Realtor and Yarmouth resident Emily Shimansky has also noted the increase in holiday lighting, and she has her own theories about why.
More people are staying in Yarmouth year-round this year, she said, so there are more homes lit up for Christmas. Shimansky also posits that fewer people are traveling for the holidays, and because they stayed home, they got busy decorating. Her own parents opted not to go to Florida this year, so her dad, who used to decorate the family’s home, went to town with decorations this season.
Shimansky, who administers the Best of Yarmouth Facebook Group, has created a Google map of Yarmouth’s decorated homes to help others find the Christmas spirit. She said friends private-messaged her with the addresses of especially well-decorated homes, and she used their information to create the map’s destination points.
The map has more than two-dozen entries, with a few homes that are especially electric — one on Trophy Lane, another on Forest Road near the corner of Old Townhouse. Last weekend, she posted photos on the group’s page after taking a tour of her own map. Most people keep their lights on through the New Year, so there’s still plenty of time to catch the colors.
Shimansky’s suggestion: Make yourself some hot cocoa or a cup of coffee with peppermint in it; put some Christmas music on your car stereo; and take your household for a little drive. “It’s beautiful!”
Andy Tomolonis is a textbook author, travel writer and freelance multimedia journalist.