From campus to the outskirts of the city, elaborate holiday light displays sparkle under a dark winter sky each night from dusk until dawn.
This year, a host of permanent residents, businesses and students add color to the season with their festive winter decorations.
Although its trees are illuminated by approximately 7,500 linear feet of LED lights year-round, Main Street comes to life each December with the addition of a winter tree in Friendship Square.
The tree, donated to the community by Woodbury Tree Farm, will remain in the square until the New Year said Greg Morrison, City of Moscow Sports Recreation Supervisor.
The tree’s lights came on for the first time during Moscow’s annual Light Up the Night Parade Dec. 6.
“We really try to make the parade a city-wide venture,” Morrison said. “Wells Fargo, Costco, Gritman Medical Center and others donated goods such as hot chocolate to make the parade more welcoming.”
This year, Emsi, a local economics firm, is sponsoring an outdoor Christmas decoration contest which is open to all of Moscow.
The main parameters for entry are that contestants live within five miles of Emsi, at 409 S. Jackson St., and the light displays are “very obviously Christmas” themed, Gwen Burrow, Emsi marketing and events coordinator said.
The contest is still open for entries — from individuals and businesses alike — as the judgment and selection process for its winner will occur this weekend. The winner will be announced on Monday.
Burrow said the contest’s judging panel consists of five people: Emsi CEO Andrew Crapuchettes, City of Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert, Moscow City Council Member Gina Taruscio, a local pastor and a local Catholic priest.
Just south of Emsi, on the corner of Jackson and Sixth streets, exists a towering grain silo light display which reads “Merry Christmas From Emsi.”
Crapuchettes purchased this silo lot in 2017 and has used it for annual holiday light displays ever since.
Members of FIJI, a Greek Fraternity on campus, decorated their house’s exterior with a light display which flashes in coordination with music. This is the fourth year the house has created such a display, and it was their biggest one yet, Michael Lejardi, FIJI brother and fourth-year UI student said.
The display lasted over an hour and ran on a cycle which was repeated over the course of three hours. 850 strands of lights were programmed to flash to the individual beats and melodies of 25 different songs.
FIJI’s light show tradition began three years ago as a philanthropy event to raise money for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. This year, the fraternity is donating fundraiser proceeds to the Moscow School District.
FIJI brothers raised this money by hosting a pancake feed inside their house, with hot chocolate for sale as well.
Lejardi has been the mastermind behind programming the lighting effects for each individual song since the creation of the show, he said.
“Each song is individually programmed,” Lejardi said. “From that, we go through the entire song, turning everything on and off and fading — each song takes about three hours to do.”
Lejardi said he is teaching some underclassmen about the process so the tradition can carry on in the years to come.
Allen Bowles, a longtime Moscow community member, has been decorating his family’s property with extensive holiday light displays for 20 years.
Bowles said he began decorating his yard after he purchased some strings of lights for a highly discounted price when a small hardware store went out of business in 1999. At the time, Bowle’s brother-in-law lived right next to him, and the two of them ended up in a friendly competition surrounding holiday lights.
Although Bowles does not currently live next to any fierce competition in the way of yard light displays, he continues to carry out the annual tradition — he begins unraveling dozens of strands of lights each year as soon as the week after Thanksgiving.
Located just north of town on US Highway 95, the Bowles family lights can be seen driving on the highway.
“We just hope the public enjoy them some and come by,” Bowles said. “The best view is just past our barn and look up this way (toward the house).”
John Webb contributed to this report.
Ellen Dennis can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @edennis37