It all started with just a bit of fun with a few lights but the night-time sparkle Mark and Pam Ottaway started grew over many decades, pulling in the crowds.
The Kaiwaka couple are behind the ''little town of lights'' display outside their own home on the main highway, whichshines brightest when they turn the front lawn and house into a Christmas fantasia.
Every night in December for 35 years now, crowds of people have arrived after dark at the couple's property to admire the spectacle, which also helps raise much-needed funds for the Kaiwaka Fire Brigade.
About $3000 is raised each year for the volunteer service.
The couple often add to the collection of lights during their annual holiday to the United States - where Christmas light displays are almost a competitive sport - as well as online sales and they sometimes order ''bits and pieces'' from other countries.
They built their house in Kaiwaka 53 years ago and said hordes of travellers from New Zealand and overseas return each year to see the Christmas lights and associated displays each year since they began, starting from December 5 and ending on January 3.
"I've had a few 15 foot blow ups and they seem to get larger every year. My garden has lights all year round— more than an average person's garden," Mark chuckled.
Mark and Pam Ottaway have been pulling in the crowds with little town of lights display for 35 years.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Apart from designing and installing his creations, Ottaway gets his biggest kicks from the delight they bring others.
