Christmas cheer will abound when the Elysium Village Christmas Lights Extravaganza returns from 29 November to 26 December.
The village will be lit up nightly from 6.30pm and there will be special entertainment nights on 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24 December.
There will be live music including Rick Wilson and Linda Street, market stalls, food stalls, children’s activities and a coffee van.
The official opening will be on Tuesday, 29 November from 6.30pm and Santa will arrive about 7pm to hand out Christmas gifts for the children.
The lights will be switched on every night and gold coin donations will be taken at the gate.
Elysium Village sales and marketing manager Dennis Ring said thanks to the generosity of the community, every child who visit the Christmas Lights Extravaganza will receive a gift.
He said there had been an overwhelming community response to his ‘WANTED’ advertisements, issuing a call-out for gift donations to fill Santa’s swag.
“To see the look on kids’ faces is amazing, it really is,” he said.
He said the light display would be impressive and he was still seeking volunteers to help hang lights in the lead-up to the extravaganza.
“There are thousands of lights – so far we’ve spent $20,000 on extra lights – and we’ve got new houses as part of stage 3 – so now we’ve got about 60 houses and we’re decorating just about all of them,” he said.
The Elysium Village Christmas lights tradition started in 2016, when Denise Winter and her husband, the late Neil Winter, moved to the village.
The Winters were known for their neighbourhood Christmas lights display at their 10 Durrand Street home, which they started on November 29, 2002 – the birthday of their daughter Tanya who died as a 20-year-old in 1992.
The Winters found joy in sharing Christmas with the community at what was otherwise a tough time for the family and continued the tradition when they moved to Elysium Village.
This year village management is organising the lights display for the first time and is seeking volunteers to help hang lights. To volunteer, contact Dennis on 0419 828 576 or email sales@elysiumvillage.com
