Christmas lights: Your ultimate guide to Toowoomba’s 2023 displays
To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, we have compiled a list of Toowoomba’s best Christmas light displays of 2023. Plan your route here.
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‘Tis the season to be jolly with just weeks to go until Santa Claus pays the Garden City a visit.
To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, we have compiled a list of Toowoomba’s best Christmas light displays of 2023.
Plan your route with our list below or enter your own address by entering your details into our survey.
4 Vann St, in Wilsonton
Karl Luxton treasures no Christmas traditions more than playing backyard cricket, sitting down for dinner and spending time with his family.
This year will mark a decade since he has been decorating his house with more than 600 metres of lights and 6000 bulbs.
“(Our favourite part) is enjoying the final set up of the lights and seeing the expressions of joy on people’s faces from kids to grandparents,” Mr Luxton said.
“It takes us about 12 hours over three days to finish our display, but there’s always multiple tweaks and fixes needed leading up to Christmas Day.”
The festive season enthusiast said his highlight of the display was the homemade archway which he covers in bright and colourful lights each year.
Alongside his wife Samantha, Mr Luxton said he was looking forward to hosting family for Christmas Day lunch this year, before heading to Gatton for dinner and a friendly but competitive match of backyard cricket of course.
Running until December 25, members of the community are welcome to check out the display between 6.30pm and 11pm.
Christmas Wonderland – Botanic Gardens in Queens Park
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but for long-distance couple Natarsha Lamberth and Noah Fulcher, it is a treasured time to introduce each other to their respective traditions.
The pair first met on dating app Tinder and after chatting over video call every night for three months, they decided to meet up in Sydney where Mr Fulcher is based for his work with the Royal Australian Air Force.
Ms Lamberth, who is from Toowoomba, said while she was initially drawn to her suitor for their similar taste in music and personalities, this quickly developed into true love.
“I could make a list of everything I love most about him longer than Santa’s naughty and nice list, but what I love most about him is how he makes me feel,” she said.
“Although our lives are chaotic and we’re always keeping each other on our toes, he brings a sense of warmth and calmness and makes me feel like I can achieve anything in the world.”
Now after six months of being in a relationship together, Ms Lamberth who is from Toowoomba, wanted nothing more than to show her boyfriend the magic of Christmas Wonderland in Queens Park.
“I’m in love with Christmas – I think the festivities and the culture are beautiful and I always look forward to this time of year,” Ms Lamberth said.
“I wanted to share my joy and excitement with him, so I took him to Christmas Wonderland because when I went last year I couldn’t stop smiling and I knew Noah would share the same excitement as I had.
“Although each time we say goodbye at the airport terminals it gets more difficult, we wouldn’t have it any other way and we know the long distance won’t be forever.
“Even with the limited time we get to spend together, I’ve never had so much fun.”
With Christmas Eve being the final night of the annual display in the Botanic Gardens of Queens Park, make sure you check out Christmas Wonderland.
The spectacular light show runs from 7pm to 10pm and also features live entertainment, food, raffles and roving performers.
Entry is a gold coin donation.
1 McGee Drive, Kearneys Spring
Every year, the Scarborough family loves nothing more than decorating gingerbread houses and eating their construction work on Christmas Day.
Parents John and Nicole alongside their children Kaitlyn and Archie have put on an impressive light display at their Kearneys Spring home for the fourth consecutive year.
A sparky by trade, Mr Scarborough decided he would take the display to new heights in 2021 when he began synchronising the 37,000 multi-coloured lights to music.
“Seeing the excited faces out front and singing to the songs is mesmerising … there’s often a lot of dancing too,” Ms Scarborough said.
“Most people that come and see it return many times to see songs they may have missed other nights.
“We have a bucket of chalk out every night for kids to draw on the footpath while they watch the lights – it’s fun looking at the drawings out there the next day – there are some creative kids around.”
The Toowoomba family sit down months in advance to plan the festive display and dedicate hours to its execution.
“Even with so much planning ahead there are still hiccups – John was on the roof last week and his ladder blew over … twice,” Ms Scarborough said.
“Thankfully a passer-by noticed what had happened the first time and came to the rescue, while the second time John had to yell out for our six-year-old son to come lift the ladder up so daddy could get off the roof.”
This year the Scarborough family are looking to spending Christmas Day at home surrounded by loved ones, relaxing and swimming in the pool.
Visitors are welcome to set their radio station to 99.3FM while enjoying the synchronised light show, but speakers will also be playing the music outside the house.
The display will be running daily until Boxing Day from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
59 Warwick St, Harristown
Prawns, pavlova and backyard cricket are typical Christmas traditions in the land down under, but for the Paynter and Berghofer family, their commitment to the Aussie way of life goes one step further.
With each male in the brood sporting their own magnificent mullet, it is no wonder they were awarded first place in the family division at Mulletfest in the Hunter Valley on December 2.
The competition will aims to find Australia’s best mullet hairstyles, is a fundraiser for the Mark Hughes Foundation and Brain Cancer research.
Belinda Paynter and her family hope to raise even more money for the worthy cause through their Christmas light display this year.
“We have been running Christmas lights for about five years and we put them up now for the grandkids because we love to see their faces and the faces of the people coming to look at them,” she said.
“Don’t forget to bring a donation as we are running a fundraiser for brain cancer research.”
In addition to the family’s showstopping hairstyles, the public will see thousands of lights, projectors and inflatable decorations at the Harristown display.
Visitors are encouraged to grab a photo with the giant Santa Claus on site and take advantage of the limited prizes on offer for kids, parents and even the fur babies.
Running every night this month, the display will be on from 6pm to 9.30pm or 10pm on Friday and Saturdays.
65 Hoepper St, Kearneys Spring
More than 15,000 lights, 45 decorations and nearly 46,000 channels of data will be working overtime at Derek and Naomi Kirstenfeldt’s home until New Year’s Eve.
The couple have been decorating their home to celebrate the festive season for the past 12 years, but began synchronising their lights to the beat of music three years ago.
“We have the largest star in Toowoomba spanning 1.8m across with 1100 individual lights,” Ms Kirstenfeldt said.
“The reactions we get when people come and see the lights (is our favourite part), but we want to spread the joy of Christmas to families all around and keep the Christmas spirit alive.”
It takes the couple approximately four months to plan their display each year, while the set up process is completed over the space of one month.
This year, the pair plan to spend Christmas Day with their loved ones, but said their favourite memory of the holiday would be the year they spent at the beach and made a Christmas pine tree.
Members of the public who visit the display are encouraged to tune their car radio to 91FM to experience the full effects of the light show.
The Kearneys Spring display will be operating between 6.30pm and 10pm every night until December 31.
63 Hoepper St, Kearneys Spring
The Griswold family are spending their Christmas vacation in the Garden City this year with a Lampoon’s themed display set to transport you to a scene from the treasured holiday film.
“Peter and Isabella love that movie which is why we went with that theme,” Ms Botten said.
“Our favourite (Christmas) memory was when Peter’s mother was still alive – she loved coming over to help and telling Peter what he was doing wrong … we all miss those moments.
“Now it is watching Isabella tell Peter what he is doing wrong, along with watching the children getting excited when they see the lights.”
After several trips to the shops to stock up on more lights, power boards and extension cords, the display was set up within an estimated six hour time frame.
The Kearneys Spring display is open to the public to enjoy every night and up until Christmas Eve.
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