With Christmas just a week away, holiday light displays have cropped up on homes all over town, and some Twin City residents went above and beyond.
The Facebook group Holiday Decorations in BloNo made it easy to craft your own driving tour. They crafted a Google map from submissions posted by homeowners and spectators, which has been endorsed by the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors’ Bureau as the Twin Cities’ official 2023 Christmas light map.
In most cases, locations are pinged with exact addresses and photographs so visitors can develop a convenient stop-by-stop plan. WGLT visited a few must-see locations on the map.
11 Jodi Lane
Tucked between Ewing Park and Illinois Wesleyan University is a next-level display, with singing lightbulbs synced up to a soundtrack on 106.1 FM and choreographed movement of stars, an arched LED border and trees. The centerpiece is a cascade of strands extending from a star even with the house’s rooftop—easily 30 feet tall. Interludes every few songs encourage visitors to donate to charities via Venmo.
2214 Tyler Trail
This corner house in Eagle View Estates is dressed to the nines with conventional strands of twinkle lights coating every bush and tree, Frosty canoeing through a river of light and chase sequences on an arched border fence leading to Santa’s House. In good weather, they’ve got music playing, which you’ll have to get out of the car to hear.
2815 Scarborough St.
The McCoy family’s meticulous display runs nightly through New Year's Eve, and even includes a countdown to midnight. Tune to 105.9 FM for an upbeat contemporary playlist, plus classics and, periodically, a patriotic theme. There’s even a dancing animatronic Santa on the porch. The family does not accept donations and encourages willing viewers to give to their favorite local charity instead.
1210 W. Hovey Ave.
No light tour of Bloomington-Normal is complete without stopping to gaze at Mike Holtz’s hundreds of light-up holiday figurines—plus a few little green men. It’s all part of a collection of more than 1,000 vintage blow-mold statues Holtz began collecting in the ‘90s. Hovey’s a busy road and there’s no good place to pull over. So, if you want to really stop and look—and you do—park on a side street and approach the house on foot. There’s nothing like it.
Light viewing etiquette
Nearly all the displays on the map are private homes in residential neighborhoods. Drivers are encouraged to pull off to the side, avoiding blocking driveways or the display, and to turn off their headlights.
