The 2025 Christmas Light Show Down has concluded, and the Fairfield community came out in force to celebrate the holiday season with dazzling displays across the city. This year’s competition saw 16 homes enter, with half being first-time participants who brought fresh creativity to Fairfield’s festive landscape.
The Winners
The People’s Choice Award (the pictured home) went to 913 South 6th Street, a clear winner that proved popular with all age groups.
First Place was awarded to 1205 South 5th Street.
Second Place went to 610 East Buchanan.
Third Place was earned by 405 South Main Street.
The Newbie Award, recognizing outstanding first-time entrants, was presented to 1105 South 8th Street.
Honorable Mentions
Due to rigorous voting and extremely close results in several categories, organizers added four honorable mention awards:
- First honorable mention: 1003 East Briggs Avenue (newbie entry)
- Second honorable mention: 106 West Madison Avenue for their creativity in recreating the Nutcracker
- Third honorable mention: 206 South 9th Street
- Fourth honorable mention: 703 South 33rd Street
Starting Tuesday, December 16th, winners can stop by Mack’s Automotive to pick up their awards.
Still Time to See the Displays
For those who didn’t get a chance to view the displays during the competition, the lights remain up and the route is still available for driving. Many homes that didn’t enter the competition also feature amazing holiday displays worth seeing.
A Winner’s Perspective
Dan Bowers, one of this year’s award winners, shared his family’s journey with holiday decorating and what motivates their annual display.
“We have entered the contest each year—I believe this is the third year. We don’t decorate with winning an award as part of our thought process. Most of it is practicality and trying to have a wide range of colors and types of lights. We try to have different things that catch the eye so that there are multiple things to see instead of just lots of lights,” Bowers explained. “One of our primary focuses is always the stable with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, which obviously is the reason we even celebrate Christmas.”
Bowers revealed that his family’s elaborate decorating tradition began with an unexpected push from his youngest daughter.
“We have always decorated our house for Christmas ever since we’ve been married to some extent. However, after Aly, our youngest child, went off to college, we decided we would take the year off and not go to all the work to decorate. She came home from college for Thanksgiving break, and when she saw no decorations, she had an absolute fit. Her comment was, ‘Just because I’m gone doesn’t mean there can’t be Christmas spirit.’ She agreed to help me, so the next day we were up on the roof putting up lights, and we’ve continued to do so ever since,” Bowers said. “Now the grandkids get excited when they come to see them.”
Bowers appreciated the organizational improvements this year and the opportunity to share their display with the broader community.
“I did appreciate the committee putting number signs in our yard this year to make it easier for people to find our houses on the map since many times addresses are hard to read at night. Since we are on a basically dead-end street, we don’t get much traffic by here, and by entering the contest, the efforts we put forth can be enjoyed by more people who would not normally be in our area,” Bowers noted. “We’ve already talked about using some of the winnings to buy some more Christmas displays for next year.”
For clarification: Dan Bowers’ home is not pictured, the pictured home is the People’s Choice Award winner.
