ANNA MARIA – The city’s annual Bright Holiday Lights decorating contest produced a first-time residential category winner and a repeat winner in the business category.
Former Keep Manatee Beautiful Executive Director Ingrid McClellan judged this year’s entries. The winners were announced during the city’s Santa Stops Here event at City Pier Park on Friday and the winners later received Christmas tree-shaped trophies.
James and Andrea Stepan won the residential category for the decorating efforts they made at their home at 602 Gladiolus St. The residential entries also included Deborah White’s home at 313 North Bay Blvd. and Luann Marshall’s home at 708 Gladiolus St. The Anna Maria General Store repeated as the business category winner, edging out the festive Duncan Real Estate office at 310 Pine Ave. The Gulf Queen Creations property at 107 Pine Ave. was entered in the contest but was not lit up during either of The Sun’s two visits to the property.
Residential category
The Stepans have lived in their home since 2017 and this year they entered the Bright Holiday Lights contest for the second time.
“We’re happy, excited and thrilled. We put a lot of effort into it and our efforts were rewarded. We’re already thinking about what we’re going to do next year,” James Stepan told The Sun.
“Last year we were decorating our house just for us and one of the neighbors told us about the city’s competition so we entered the contest not really knowing what it was like. We didn’t win last year so we decided to step it up a bit this year and we brought in a lot more color. We added Santa Claus and more lights to the roof this year too.
“Last year we had colored landscape lighting on the trees. This year we wrapped the trunks of the coconut and royal palms with lights. We added some LED effects on the Sylvester palms by the driveway. We added more lighting and more colors than the traditional green and red Christmas colors,” Stepan said.
The Stepan’s decorations again feature a pair of white-lighted deer-shaped lawn ornaments and a white Christmas tree lawn ornament. New this year are a flamingo lawn ornament, several oversized Christmas ornaments and a multi-colored Christmas tree lawn ornament. The decorations also include a teddy bear drummer.
“My wife wanted a pink flamingo and we added some purple and pink lights this year too. The ornaments and the multi-colored trees are new this year and make it a little more festive and fun,” Stepan said.
The couple spent about two weeks working on their decorations and were out until midnight the night before the judging took place making their final adjustments.
“We live on a corner lot and we probably have about 500 square feet of front yard. It takes a lot more lights and decorations than a smaller yard,” Stepan said.
“When I was a kid, I’d jump in the car with mom and dad and we’d drive around and look at all the Christmas lights. Hopefully, people will drive by our house and enjoy what we did,” Stepan said.
Luann Marshall’s decorations feature several inflatables, including Baby Yoda from “The Mandalorian” TV series and Olaf from the “Frozen” movies.
While standing on her balcony next to the Olaf inflatable, Marshall said, “I do it because I enjoy it. I do all the holidays and it’s fun. I’ve lived here for four years, but I’ve been coming here since the 1950s. My grandparents, Philip and Lily Bruhl, lived on the Island and moved here in the 1940s.”
White’s decorations included several inflatables, three roof decorations and a multitude of colorful lights.
Deborah White’s home on North Bay Boulevard is Christmas wonderland. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Past repeat residential winners Carol and Larry Craft did not enter this year’s contest, but their home and yard at 266 Gladiolus St. is once again among the most beautifully decorated properties in Anna Maria.
Business category
The Anna Maria General Store won the businesses category outright for the second consecutive year, after tying with Beach Bums for first place two years ago.
“This year we added the archway trellis to the entrance. We have the nutcrackers that play music. We have 33,000 lights this year. We have the new waterfall of lights on the parking lot side and we put more lights on our Christmas tree on the roof,” general store owner Brian Seymour said.
Tom Powers once again guided the general store’s decorating efforts.
“We had a great time. We love doing it and we’re glad we won again,” Powers said.
“I’d like to see more of the businesses participate. I’d love to see the entire business district lit up. Duncan Real Estate looked great and the shopping center where Two Scoops is looks nice too,” Seymour said.
“We’d like to thank Nicole Coleman and Brandy Kelly for their ideas and help,” Seymour added.
“I’d like to see more of the businesses participate. I’d love to see the entire business district lit up. Duncan Real Estate looked great and the shopping center where Two Scoops is looks nice too,” Seymour said.
