Where to find Murray Bridge’s best Christmas lights in 2024
The winners of the city’s annual Christmas lights awards have been announced – here are the addresses worth visiting.
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Every year, Alec Thomson becomes a minor celebrity in Murray Bridge for his dazzling display of computer-controlled, musically synchronised Christmas lights.
But this year he’s gone bigger than ever – and he’s won an award for his efforts.
Instead of setting up out the front of his house, Mr Thomson has shifted his display to a semi-vacant block at 24-26 Old Princes Highway, Murray Bridge East.
Despite its size, he has managed to fill it with the LED tunnel used for last year’s Murray River Glows festival, screens, candy canes, film and TV characters and more, all of it flashing in time with the music.
“You have to be crazy to go so big just to make kids happy,” he said.
“Seeing the smiles on kids’ faces … makes all the heartache and long hours worthwhile.”
He thanked the property’s owner, Ben Versteegh from Fair Dinkum Builds, for letting him use the space and even lending him a skylift to put up some of the higher decorations.
Mr Thomson was one of four winners named on Thursday morning in the annual Christmas lights competition run by the Murray Bridge council.
The others were:
- Traditional display: The Contoyoso family of Willowbark Crescent, Murray Bridge
- Small display: Josh Lehmann of Starling Street, Murray Bridge
- Large display: Brayden Heineken of Swan Road, Riverglades
Given special mentions were Samantha Warner of Jervois; Jiron Blacket of Garden Crescent, Murray Bridge; and Ben Hedger of Adelaide Road, Murray Bridge.
The council’s economic development manager, Vanessa Leigh, thanked everyone who had made an effort to light up their homes and businesses for the Christmas season.
“Your creativity, enthusiasm and dedication have brought festive joy to our community,” she said.
“The exceptional quality of this year’s entries (made) the decision-making hard, which is a testament to the effort that you all put in.”
Meanwhile, the administrator of a local Facebook group has been hard at work mapping all the best Christmas light displays around Murray Bridge.
Murray Bridge Christmas Lights’ Leeanne Thomson published her map of the addresses submitted by local Facebook users on Saturday, and has been updating it.
So take a look at the map – embedded above or viewable at the link below – and plan your sightseeing route.
- View the map: www.google.com.
- More information: Search for Murray Bridge Christmas Lights on Facebook.
