ROCKPORT, Maine — Headed north on Route 1 between Camden and Rockland, an oasis of playful lights, including an inflated shivering snowman, shines through the darkness.
Although his electric bill jumps every winter, Rockport innkeeper Dana Burton says the extra $50 is worth it for the smiles he elicits.
“Decorations make you happy. It’s kind of cheerful,” said Burton, who turns his Strawberry Hill Seaside Inn into a Christmas wonderland every December, with gingerbread men jumping on a trampoline set to music, an antique sleigh, snowmen, life-size Santas and a moose wearing a wreath necklace. And that’s just the outside.
“I do it for the families that drive by at night,” he said.
This time of year, the heart leaps at the sight of a cheery light display.
But not all neighborhoods get into the act. Some are illuminated like a section of Disney World, while others are spotty or altogether dark. Is it economics, psychology or something else?
“When I see those pockets of neighborhoods, it feels like a playful community. It’s a fun holiday spectator sport,” Jim Britt of Cape Elizabeth said. When cruising the Broad Cove section of this seaside town, he stumbled across a few “awesome displays” this month.
To Britt, “there are certain neighborhoods where … that competitive urge to outdo your neighbor, a la Chevy Chase,” is strong.
That urge is playing out across the nation. The website Trillist recently listed the best decorated streets in the nation this month. Sadly, no Maine neighborhoods made the list.
Sarah Tierney, who has lived at Broad Cove since 1991, loves the showy gestures that flare up in this tasteful neighborhood, such as the giant, inflatable Rudolph that appeared for the first time this season.
“It’s enormous [and] makes me smile every time I see it bobbing away,” Tierney said.
The lightheartedness of these displays are not trivial. Christmas spirits not only draw spectators but also home buyers. The sea of lights on Sophia Street in Saco is one reason Jennifer and Doug Reid moved there from Biddeford four years ago.
“It makes such a statement as you drive by,” said Doug, who drove around last weekend in search of other streets keeping the spirit. He was disappointed.
Flanked by houses illuminated with candles in each window, sleighs and ribboned garland gates punctuated with white lights, Sophia Street breaks up the dark stretch of country road in the Brookside neighborhood.
There is no shock-and-awe campaign on Facebook. It seems rigging up the lights, one of the 12 pains of Christmas, is infectious.
“I like decorating, and I’m proud of living here,” said Jennifer Reid, whose white and blue lights are on from dusk till dawn making her home twinkle in the snow. “It puts you in the mood, gets you in the spirit.”
She was not pressured to plug in. But in tight-knit communities, participation goes without saying.
“It’s part of being in a neighborhood,” Reid, a 40-something mother with two young sons, said. “The first couple of houses on the street inspire us. It’s not competitive, you just want to be part of it.”
Of course, some would rather watch. This year, Tierney and Britt are happy to linger.
Tierney decorated the inside of her home and installed some lights on her back deck. She did not catch heat from neighbors to do more.
Although Britt was exposed to holiday lights as a child in Ohio, the father of two who runs public relations agency gBritt and email newsletter Eat Drink Lucky opted out.
“It’s too much work — not my idea of a good time,” he said.
But when he first caught sight of that giant Rudolph and some electrified art on St. John Street in Portland, he was tickled.
“It’s a riot. I love it,” Britt said. “It comes down to do what makes you happy. If this brings you more into the spirit of the season or just makes you happy, then go for it.”
