Santa Clarita Valley residents have illuminated their homes with colorful lights and festive decorations to welcome visitors to come by to share in the holiday spirit.
The most popular holiday light destination in the valley is Wakefield Winter Wonderland, and this year is its 30th anniversary.
From opening to closing night, the residents of this street will see hundreds of people every night drive and walk by their decorations admiring the joy they are bringing to people.
Leticia Matsumoto said she made the commute from Sylmar with her 1-year-old toddler, Andy, and as they looked through the thousands of decorations, they were all smiles while taking pictures.
“I wanted to come for a couple of years now because a couple of friends told me about this place, but the time would just pass me by,” Matsumoto said. “Now that I have a baby, I made sure to make time. It’s a fun experience and although Andy won’t remember these moments, I will, and I will get to tell him about it once he’s older.”
The idea started back in 1993, when the families of the center block got together and decided to join their houses with lights and decorations.
“In 1993 our house and the house across the street where Mark and Leslie (Thomas) lived were doing our decorations,” said Cyndee Haggart, a member of one of the original families. “Chris (Lucero) and Mark were sitting in the garage when I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a line of lights across our houses but if they were icicles?’ and Chris said, ‘I can do that!’”
Haggart said it really started as a way to have fun and connect with their neighbors. She said they would decorate their houses and hang out with each other at the end of their cul-de-sac. The first year they started it was only six light strings and only exclusively the neighborhood’s treasure.
In 1994 is when visitors started coming to their street and more houses were a part of the decorations, according to Haggart.
“I don’t know how it got out, but people started showing up and the lines were down the street,” said Haggart.
Haggart said over the years, more residents participated in it and more visitors started to come by. After the original families who started the tradition retired and moved away, the new families who came wanted to continue it on, said Haggart.
Daniella Shabun and her family of four moved into Wakefield Court in 2021 and, when signing the disclosure, they were notified that once a year, large amounts of people come by to visit the small street in Saugus.
“We thought, ‘OK they just put up some lights,’” Daniella assumed, but when they finally saw the first year of Wakefield Winter Wonderland come to fruition, “We saw it and we were like, ‘Oh this is amazing and beautiful!’”
She added that ever since they saw it all come together it has been a highlight for her to see how much her kids love it.
“We go out every night and it’s like our favorite after-dinner activity,” Daniella said.
Although their decorations are minimal compared to their neighbors and the rest of the street’s, the Shabun family tried their best and “hopefully over the years, we’ll get more and more lights.”
Christopher Lucero, another member of the original families who started the display, said that he always knew he wanted to do an all-out holiday display. He said he grew up visiting an elaborate holiday display in Altadena and that’s when he thought he would do something similar once he got a house.
Lucero said that one reason they do keep decorating every year is because of the sense of community it has created for their street.
“It keeps going because it is easy,” said Lucero. “When we first started doing this all of us in this little center of the block knew each other. We had keys to each other’s house and so it was really tight.”
Wakefield Winter Wonderland is open daily from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and is located at Wakefield Court, Santa Clarita, off Copper Hill Drive.
Just down the street from Wakefield is another neighborhood that decorates for the holidays. Homestead Holidays features light and character displays. It is located at Homestead Place, Santa Clarita.
Another Valencia holiday light display stop is the Holiday Light Spectacular on Briarcliff Place. Brian and Kimberly Stiegelbauer have always decorated their house for the holidays, but Brian Stiegelbauer said they got a lot more attention for their decorations in 2015 because they began to use the attraction to raise money for the National Brain Tumor Society.
“My father-in-law suffered from a specific type of brain tumor called the GBM,” said Brian Stiegelbauer. “He loved the lights and ever since he passed, we did it to raise money for charity.”
Brian Stiegelbauer said his family plans all year round by creating props and sequencing the music. In September is when he starts to decorate his house for Halloween and once Halloween is over, he begins to switch it over to a Christmas theme.
The lights he decorates the house with are synced to music and flash along with the beats.
He added that the display is open starting the day after Thanksgiving and typically runs a week into the New Year. Visitors can tune their radio to 93.7 FM to listen along or push a button on the driveway to listen to the music out loud.
The music will play out the driveway from 5 to 9 p.m. and after that it is encouraged to use the car radio, so the neighborhood is not disturbed. Brian Stiegelbauer said the display is available until midnight.
For anyone who would like to donate, there are donations boxes on the driveway, or they can use a QR code on a pole in front of the house.
Holiday Light Spectacular on Briarcliff Place is located at 27732 Briarcliff Place, Valencia.
Another house that flips from their Halloween decorations to Christmas is Cuestport Christmas. Robyne Roberson and her partner Bret Paris do an elaborate holiday display that has won the Northbridge Point lighting competition.
They decorate the house with lights and have Christmas videos play in the windows that change every few minutes for visitors to watch.
Roberson said that she has always decorated for the holidays and over the years it has grown. She said it motivates her when she sees the children have a good time looking at all the decorations and when they come back to visit.
“The little kids get so excited, and their parents tell us, ‘I’ve got to bring my kid here.’ They come every night and they’re always so excited,” said Roberson.
Cuestport Christmas is available from 6:30 to 11 p.m. and located at 23235 Cuestport Drive, Valencia.
In Stevenson Ranch, Patrice and Eli Hallark decorate their house with lights and characters from Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
Patrice Hallark said they have been decorating for 15 years. It all started when their daughters were younger, and they wanted to embrace the holiday spirit.
“We started when our daughters were little, and we just had little reindeer. We would put them out and then we just started adding and adding then my husband got into the lights going to the music,” said Patrice Hallark.
To listen along visitors can tune into 107.7 FM on the radio and watch as the lights flash in unison with the music.
The Hallark House is available to see from 5 to 10 p.m. and is located at 25086 Cotton Blossom Lane, Stevenson Ranch.
Just around the corner is the Southern Oaks Lights display that also features string lights and video clips that play along with music. To listen along, visitors can tune into 99.7 FM and their display is on from 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Southern Oaks Lights is located at 25851 Royal Oaks Road, Stevenson Ranch.
Katherine Quezada contributed to this article.
To view a map of the above locations, go to signalscv.com/2024/11/scv-holiday-lights-highlights-2024.
