Lighting up Needham

December 23, 2024
• More than 20 local homes are decked out in lights and decor for the annual Holiday Lights Tour.

When Kelly Luce began decorating her home on Hunting Road about 15 years ago, she started with only a couple inflatables. Mickey Mouse, Minnie, and other Disney characters found a home on her front yard, where they survived through the wind and snow.

“From there, it just kind of exploded,” Luce said.

Such is the case for many families across Needham, some of whom are participating in the Holiday Lights Tour, organized by the Needham Women’s Club. The Luce family and 22 other households string lights, hang wreaths and plant a diverse array of colorful decorations in a bid for top prize — but mostly bragging rights.

The local contest dates back to 1997, making this year the 27th edition, Needham Women’s Club President Mary Ann Pierce said. Now through Dec. 31, voters can select their favorite three houses with a donation of $20, which will go toward local organizations in the community.

For Sara Orozco, the holidays are incomplete without her Cuban-inspired display on Alfreton Road. Growing up in Miami as the daughter of two Cuban immigrants, Orozco celebrated Noche Buena — the Christmas Eve tradition wherein they would eat roast pig and spend time with family.

Orozco has lived in Needham for close to two decades, but she regularly visited Florida over the Christmas holiday with her kids every year. Still, she craved the environment, scenario and animals she grew up with.

“Here in Massachusetts and in Needham, I just didn’t see my tradition reflected anywhere,” Orozco said, “and I missed it so much.”

About 10 years ago, Orozco bought her first decorations: a light-up pig and a palm tree that reminded her of life in Florida. She added a flamingo, a cow, and soon her front lawn was covered in atypical wildlife.

“I can’t stop myself now. Every year, there’s a new one,” she said. “I’m going to have to borrow my neighbor’s yard next year because there’s no space.”

A pelican and two sharks — one with a gingerbread man in his jaws — swim in a sea of blue lights, which represents both their life force as well as her childrens’ Jewish heritage, Orozco said. A light-up pig dances in a plastic pool, but he’s surrounded by two crocodiles, which are new additions this year. Orozco also displayed two camels wearing rainbow accessories to symbolize inclusivity, as well as flying pig, as an “appreciation for all the sacrifices the pigs have made over the years.”

On Hunting Road, 32 inflatables greet visitors to the Luces’ home. Kelly Luce’s husband William, a licensed electrician and sponsor of the lights tour, sets them all up at the end of November as a birthday gift for his wife.

“We get a lot of joy from it — other than the crazy electric bill we get in January,” Kelly Luce joked. “It’s a fun time, and we really just love that families stop and enjoy it so much.”

They’ve generated “quite a menagerie” now, she said, with blow-ups of Stitch, Eeyore, Ursula — her favorite Disney character — and the cast of Frozen, including fan-favorite Olaf. Families often stop to take photos with Olaf, who was recently replaced after he was damaged.

Luce will be the first to acknowledge her attachment to the holiday.

“I’m going to admit to you, I’m a little over-the-top,” Luce said. “But I really, really enjoy the Christmas holiday.”

The Needham Women’s Club previously visited homes to decorate them, but the pandemic forced the organization to continue the tradition in its current form. Now, locals can vote for their favorite home online, and Pierce said she hopes to bring back the trolley, which transported people from house to house.

Pierce recalls the celebratory spirit in the air when the tour returned in 2020.

“That first year that we had a car parade, I was in tears,” Pierce said, “because we are going around corners, and there are people standing, freezing, masks on, waiting and cheering, because it was giving them something to be excited about.”

That joy flows through the current holiday season, and it’s what motivates John Sganga to amp up his display every year. For his latest entry in the contest, Sganga synced his light display to music through an FM transmitter that plays his favorite songs over the radio.

Passers-by who tune into 91.7 FM can listen to songs from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and other classics and watch as Sganga’s lights at Meetinghouse Circle twinkle and dance to the music.

“Hopefully the FCC doesn’t come after me or something,” Sganga said with a laugh.

Decorating for Christmas started with his dad, and the tradition has since continued. Since moving to Needham 10 years ago, the Sganga household has lit up Meetinghouse Circle.

“Being able to provide that type of joy to people is what really drives me to do it,” Sganga said, “just to see how happy people are to see the lights and how it brightens their holidays.”

Pierce said she believes much of the visible holiday cheer in Needham began in 2020, when residents were looking for a creative outlet. With the help of sponsors and donations, the NWC has raised close to $10,000 through the contest this year.

In many ways, however, the light displays have remained a constant in Needham every December. One house, at 20 Cleveland Rd., participated in the first house tour in 1997, Pierce said, and though it has since changed ownership, the home is back in the competition again this year.

Pierce’s own festive decor starts out in “20-some odd boxes from the attic,” she said, but careful arrangement, time and effort result in “holiday magic” on Harris Avenue.

“We’re lighting up Harris Ave, and there’s a lot of houses, and I convinced a few people to just put as many lights as you can,” Pierce said.

The light show sparked a familial rivalry between the Pirro-Miades house on Hillside Avenue and the Pirro family on Greendale Avenue. Jan Pirro-Miades’ cousins on her dad’s side reside just a half a mile away, and both joined the lights tour this year.

“It’s always family-fun competition,” Jan Pirro-Miades said.

More than the prizes up for grabs, Pirro-Miades said she’s after the bragging rights. From 4:30 to about 7:30 p.m., a speaker outside her home plays holiday music as her lights flash.

Growing up in Needham, Pirro-Miades said her father would decorate their home with blue bulbs, and “little by little,” her own place grew into a Christmas extravaganza, complete with Santa’s sleigh, reindeer, a blue tree and Grinch with his dog Max.

Their home is, by far, the most decorated on the block, Pirro-Miades said.

“We enjoy it, the neighbors love it,” she said. “We like to do it for the sake of doing it.”

More than anything, decorating their home and welcoming visitors is what makes the season special, Orozco said.

“There’s something really community-building about that that I really like,” Orozco said.

Find each of the participating homes in the map below.